Autopilot Cars

An insight into the progress and future of autonomous vehicles.

• Several big-name corporations such as General Motors, Google’s Waymo, Toyota and Honda promised that by the year 2020, they would have their own model of an automated car, on the road.
• The year 2020 has come and gone and such tech and motor industries seem far from delivering their promises.
• Engineers have been attempting prototypes of self-driving cars for decades but recently have been confronted with the idea that perhaps creating such tech may not be as easy as was initially thought.
• Autopilot cars rely on an abundance of digital information to make predictions. These estimates will enable vehicles to make decisions based on the surroundings, including pedestrians and cyclists.
• However, presently there is a lack of such digital information or “training data” available, in order for autopilot cars to make such learning progress.
• Regardless of the money invested or people working on the projects, no team has been able to solve the problem of navigating our roads with a high degree of reliability.
• But all hope is not lost, Waymo do have a selection of commercial autopilot cars in Arizona and if trials go well, they plan to expand.
• Such cars could be extremely beneficial for those with disabilities, who cannot get a driver’s license and may struggle commuting.