Every major auto manufacturer and top-tier supplier is working on self-driving autos and they may be here sooner than you think. As technology inside and between cars becomes increasingly more sophisticated, the potential for driverless automobiles raises new questions about the road ahead. 

 

 

 "Conservatively, by the year 2025 cars will be able to drive themselves under all conditions," estimates Richard Wallace, director of transportation systems analysis for the non-profit Center for Automotive Research, based in Ann Arbor, Mich.

 

The consumer automotive market already is benefiting from advances such as parking assist, lane keeping systems, forward crash avoidance radar, and adaptive cruise control on higher-end car models. Later this year, Mercedes and Audi 2014 model-year cars will have traffic jam assist - a new technology that will control steering, acceleration, and braking to keep pace with other drivers in low-speed situations like stop-and-go traffic - according to Wallace.

 

The electronic content and components of today's modern vehicle are 35 to 40 percent of a vehicle's value and more advanced than many of us realize. A typical luxury car has more than 100 million lines of computer code.

 

When it comes to safety, artificial intelligence is going to be superior to manual driving over time. "There is no doubt that as the technology matures, it will be more capable than we are. So, as for crashes, injuries, and fatalities, we will be better off," stated Wallace.

 

The technologies to be utilized will most likely be a convergence of camera systems (because they're cheap), radar (also inexpensive), and radio waves for communication from vehicle to vehicle.

 

Read the full article at Industry Market Trend's website