Essay Sample on Autonomous Vehicles

Autonomous Vehicles

Description of Application

One of the biggest trends in the automotive industry is the emergence of Autonomous Vehicles. An autonomous vehicle is a car that is able to drive itself from point A to point B without human interaction. In order for a vehicle to become autonomous, it requires AI, cameras, lasers, radar, and a tremendous amount of data, among many other things. This may sound like a science fiction movie from the future but this technology is here right now and it is all around us. A human driver is capable of seeing and understanding the surroundings of the car. We use this information to make decisions on where to go and what obstacles to avoid if necessary. With the use of AI, a vehicle will be able to understand all of this information and transport itself from one location to another just as if a human were behind the wheel operating it. AI helps the vehicle visualize the world around itself and help make decisions.

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Objective

The main objective of this concept is to safely transport a vehicle from one location to another. With driverless cars, there will be less distracted drivers and ideally fewer accidents on the road. According to Kersten Heineke of the McKinsey Quarterly, she states in her article, Self-driving car technology: When will the robots hit the road?, that "In 2015, accidents involving distracted drivers in the United States killed nearly 3,500 people and injured 391,000 more in conventional cars, with drivers actively controlling their vehicles." It is no secret that cell phones play a big role in the distraction of drivers, especially among the younger generations. Apple has implemented a feature called "Do Not Disturb While Driving" to help with this issue which silences notifications. However, this feature can easily be bypassed and will still leave drivers distracted. In Ayn De Jesus' article "AI for Self-Driving Car Safety - Current Applications" he states that "According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, autonomous vehicles and driver-assisting technologies have the potential to reduce crashes, prevent injuries, and save lives." As a benefit of self-driving cars, it would allow extra time available for drivers to take care of work, sleep, or whatever they may desire during their trip depending on the level of automation in their vehicle.

Results

Self-driving cars are on the radar of many manufacturers. Some of which are already here such as Tesla or Google's Waymo. Others are already in the process of creating their own such as Ford, GM, Mercedes Benz, and BMW. Self-driving cars have reached 5 levels of automation ranging from level 0 to level 5. At a level 0 is no automation at all where the driver is fully in control and responsible. Where level 5, on the other hand, is complete automation where the vehicle will drive and be in control of every aspect a driver would. In between these levels are driver assistance, partial automation, conditional automation, and high automation. Driver assistance is the bare minimum of autonomy in vehicles. It is primarily used for what is called "Adaptive Cruise-Control," which will monitor the car in front of you and speed up or slow down in order to keep up with the flow of traffic. Partial automation, which we will discuss shortly, consists of three components; steering, acceleration, and braking of the vehicle. Conditional automation is the next level and is in somewhat of a grey area in between levels 2 and 4. At a level 2, the driver must be alert as opposed to a level 4 where the driver can rely on the AI-powered vehicle to autonomously transport them. There is a thin line between these two categories and that is where conditional automation, or otherwise known as level 3 occurs.

Case Examples

When considering a self-driving car one of the first companies that come to mind is Tesla. They are well known for not only having award-winning electric vehicles but also great self-driving features as well. Tesla's autonomous vehicle feature is called Autopilot which was originally released in 2015 and it can be added onto their Model S, X, and 3 vehicles. Despite being well known for their Autopilot feature, Tesla is only operating at a level 2 of autonomy. As mentioned earlier this would be called partial automation, or otherwise known as a "hands-on" autonomous vehicle. According to Kirsten Korosec of Fortune, she describes the Autopilot capabilities as, "The first generation of autopilot offers computer-assisted parallel parking, steering, and lane changing on highways, and an upgraded warning system for side collisions." In other words, the car will take control of the acceleration, navigating, and braking for the driver however they must still pay attention to the road and be prepared to take action if anything were to go wrong. In order to prevent drivers from completely disengaging from being behind the wheel, Tesla has implemented a warning system that requires the driver to hold the steering wheel every few minutes. While these may seem like setbacks, the hands-on rule is put in place as a precautionary measure of safety.

Many people are skeptical about the safety of being inside a self-driving car. Considering there have only been two fatalities in the U.S. of Tesla owners engaged in Autopilot is quite remarkable. Especially when the total amount of driver fatalities in 2016 was 18,610. (statista) In order to alleviate the public's concerns, Elon Musk has released a quarterly vehicle safety report of their Teslas. According to Jameson Dow of Electrek "The main numbers are: Tesla vehicles have accidents at about 1/4 the rate of regular vehicles when being driven in normal non-Autopilot mode. When in Autopilot mode, Tesla vehicles have accidents at about 1/7 the rate of normal vehicles." Although Tesla is only at a level 2 of autonomy with the use of AI, it is still considered safer than an ordinary driver.

On the other side of the spectrum is Google's Waymo vehicles, which operates under a subsidiary called Alphabet. With more advanced AI and hardware being used, these vehicles have reached a level 4 classification on self-driving capabilities. This means that at a level of "high automation" the vehicle is able to undertake all facets of driving without the need for driver intervention. In this type of scenario, the driver has now become the passenger and the car is in charge of transporting itself safely from one destination to another. Waymo believes that its autonomous vehicles will make the roads safer for both pedestrians and other vehicles. As mentioned previously, by not having to constantly watch the road, drivers can now relax and do whatever they please. There are many opportunities for Waymo's high level of autonomy thanks to its advanced AI and hardware.

Autonomous Ride-Sharing- Kimseang

For the sake of modern automotive technology, people are hoping to see the world first fully autonomous vehicle on the road in the next few decades. However, there is always a give and take on any new opportunity come into life. In fact, the technology will hurt many related industries while taking sometimes to accelerate for the future most advanced autonomous transportation. With the self-driving technology that embraced by Tesla company while Elon Musk is recently still the CEO. The company's vision is to save the Earth by inventing electric vehicle and reduce the amount of emission that released from fuel gasoline vehicle. Self-driving technology comes into the package and wow the eyes of many innovators. For the most sophisticated benefit will fall into Ride-Sharing industry like UBER and LYFT, while many big brother companies like Google and Apple are preparing to share a piece of a pie. With the combination of smartphone technology, research from Mckinsey & Company on Automotive and Assembly industry states that taxi and bus ride decrease by 5 to 10 percent from 2014 to 2016 (Dhar, 2017) (See Exhibit 1). In the era of technology followed by the ride-sharing opportunity and the power of a smartphone. Consumers tend to use less public transportation like buses and trains. Taxi is also among them as well and the industry as a whole is sinking while trying to compete with UBER and LYFT who dominant the ride-sharing industry to offer the most cost-effective strategy to a heavy transportation consumer like us.

The objective of this implication is to combine ride-sharing with the autonomous vehicle to transport people to where they want to be while maximizing the efficiency of using transportation as a way to commute. With the power of technology and the self-driving car, we could take this into the next level and would result in tremendous advantages in multiple sectors.

1.Economy

With the autonomous ride-sharing, there will be fewer cars on roads. Based on the number of Statista in 2016, there are 14.5 million cars registered in California alone (Statista, 2018). With the autonomous ride-sharing technology, we can reduce at least approximately half of that in the first five years after it launched. Additionally, in an average of 95% of the time, cars are not used in its full capacity while sitting in the lot most of its life. As a developed world, we are not using a car in a smart way. American do not normally travel at the same time while everybody else is doing the same thing. As a result, traffic occurs almost every day except Sunday from 7 am to 9 am and 3 pm to 8 pm.

2.Elimination of Car Ownership

Speaking from the truth of many car owners here in the United States. Owning a car is not a pleasant experience for everyone. There are times and money involve in maintenances and repairs. Nonetheless, there is also a high cost on the depreciation of a car. What if we can eliminate all of these at once and using ride-sharing as public transportation which transfers the responsibility of ownership either to the government or car dealerships. Why need a car while ride-sharing is easily accessible at a cheaper cost.

3.No Driver

There will be no driver involved in Autonomous car and this is a huge advantage in term of economy. According to Fortune Magazine on May 23, 2017, Waymo, the product of Alphabet partner with LYFT to invent the self-driving car (Shen, 2017). It might worth more than Tesla market value in the future. The industry predicts what would be possible with autonomous driving when all cars on the road using AI technology and connect, it would enhance smoother to travel, less congestion, and a lot safer while sitting at the back reading a magazine. Speaking of efficiency and productivity, the autonomous car needs no driver. The car would work 24 hours a day and 7 days a weeks without any bathroom break and sleep except time for maintenances and repair. Without a driver, there will be one more space empty for another passenger to enjoy while cutting the cost and add on profit. There is no labor require and put less weight on the car which results in less fuel consumption.

4.Smartphone Divide Us, Ride-Sharing Bring Us Back

While smartphone divides us, it is time for ride sharing to bring us...