Driverless cars

How do driverless cars work? How is it being put to use? What are the concerns?

Driverless cars use rapid laser pulses to measure the distance between it and other cars, people, and other obstacles like telephone poles, sidewalks, and construction. driverless cars also use colored images from the camera at the top of the car’s hood to see things like street signs and traffic lights to make sure it’s stopping when it needs to and going when it needs to. Another way driverless cars work is that there is a camera in the car that connects it to the steering and braking mechanics of the vehicle. A driverless car is made up of all kinds of sensors and very advanced computer vision systems. In most self-driving cars they have Lidar which is a light detection and ranging system, this is a spinning round camera on the top of the car that is constantly scanning the environment with a light laser around it to make sure it doesn’t hit anyone or anything.

One way this is being put to use today is it can help elderly or impaired individuals to drive and get places because they don’t have to see to turn the wheel or push the gas and break pedals, the car does all of it for them, it also helps with human errors like distractions as well as slow reaction times, for example; calling, texting, or changing the music and if a person or animal jump in the way of the road the car will have a better reaction time. A way this technology is being used is companies like Uber are using driverless cars to pick people up and drop them off at their destination. Another way this is good is because this means less pollution and fewer car parks because the cars are always on the move. Another great thing about driverless cars is that they can communicate with each other, and this could mean less congestion of traffic as well as shorter commute times, for example; if there is construction or a roadblock the cars will communicate with each other and attempt to take a new route and go around it.

Even though driverless cars are great and are helping the economy, there are some concerns that people have, like what if you get into a crash are you responsible because it’s your car, or is someone else responsible because your car is driverless, there can also be a virus in the software because it is electric which can cause serious life-threatening problems. The biggest concern is the idea of someone being able to hack your car, this can be very dangerous and causes alarm.

In conclusion, we have read how driverless cars work as well as what makes them work, what the benefits are and how they are being put to use, as well as what the concerns are and what the benefits are.

“Le auto a guida autonoma: the Driverless Cars” by automobileitalia is licensed under CC BY 2.0.