Self Driving Cars, Explained
Kyle Vogt, CEO of Cruise, called for a taxi and a driverless car arrived.
And Kyle wasn’t alone. People in San Francisco have been witnessing this phenomenon for quite some time: the arrival of a tax with no one inside.
But the question is, Are self-driving the future of public transportation?
Before you fire your car driver, let me walk you through the current state of self-driving cars beyond the click-baity news headlines. Ready?
Let’s go:
Here’s The Complete Breakdown Of Our Progress Behind Self-Driving Cars!
Confused with this chart? No issues, I’ll explain:
The levels in self-driving cars are like:
Level 0: We would monitor the car closely
Level 1: The car takes the charge
Level 2: The car will be fully in-charge but only in certain areas (we are here now)
.
.
.
Level N (last): The car is in charge anytime and anywhere and passengers can sleep peacefully.
If the last level sounded magic to you, then you aren’t alone. All companies are working hard to reach level N. So that they can sell that “magic”.
And that’s nothing wrong, right? Companies are working hard (despite what sci-fi news headlines may tell you) to reach full self-driving with constraints.
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In clear highways, you don’t have to monitor closely. But in congested areas, you guessed it…driver takes the charge.
Fight for self driving isn’t happening just forward (from Level 2 to level …), it is happening deep into one level (Level 2 as of now).
Sounds brilliant? Let your self-driving car dream meet the real world. Here’s what CEO of Cruise had to say:
“So sometimes people use this service to come home from restaurants or even bars. Maybe have a few drinks, and that makes you sleepy.
And so we’ve had multiple people fall asleep -[Friends shout] You fell asleep ASLEEP?- in the back. What do we do? The car’s just kind of waiting for them to wake up…
Well, we detect if people don’t exit the vehicle quickly. And so someone from our customer support popped on the audio and said: Hi, are you still in the car?
I never thought of that problem, But yeah, like when technology meets the real world”
I’ve only one thing to say: men (humans) will be men whether they are using horse carts or self-driving cars.
The Autonomous Truck Revolution Is Here!
Long distance transportation is the back-bone of heavy industries. Truck drivers bear a lot of risk to carry out the thing which drives our economies.
If self-driving could at least ease the tedious driving, it would do great help, right?
The companies promise much more though. Full self-driving No accidents. Faster deliveries.
Let’s see how far we can go with this.
So is driverless transportation the next tech-miracle or completing nuisance increasing the risk of accidents?
At least one thing is for sure: self-driving cars isn’t any sci-fi. It has it’s fair share of pros and cons.
What do you guys think? Have you ever rode in a driverless vehicle? Share it in the comments. Follow me for personal finance lessons and interesting stories (like this) that schools failed to teach you.
Have a good day, readers!
Quick Update: Watch this video from Ted-Ed to know about the functioning of self-driving cars (their animations are simply brilliant):
