Driverless Car

How Driverless Automobiles Can Work on Public Roads:

Analysis of the Challenges to the Self-driving Mechanism

Introduction

In recent years, the information technology boom has inspired many high-tech companies such as Google, Ford and Tesla to step up the self-driving vehicle tests successfully. Lavrinc (2012) implies that the driverless vehicles have been allowed to operate legally on roads in three states in United States, the law approval is a major step forward the mainstream of our society. The development of driverless cars does not only focus on the realm of theoretical science like physics and mathematics but also involves the significant breakthrough in engineering fields including automatics, robotics, human intelligence, automotive

The driverless car

The driverless car is a type of robotic vehicle that has the capacity to perceive the road environment by sensors, navigate automatically and control by itself to arrive at the pre-determined destination without the physical monitoring or control by a human operator.

2. Intelligent Transportation System (ITS)

Intelligent transportation system is the advanced integration with communication, information technology and cognitive network applied to transportation infrastructure and vehicles. By data accumulation and information exchange, it can help avoid emergency or dangerous situations, alleviate the traffic congestions and reducing the accident risks (Leung, El Faouzi, & Kurian, 2011).

Then the light detector or sensor that is situated in the roof of vehicle rotates and monitors the nearby environment to depict a dynamic three-dimensional map with a range of 100 miles around the car. According to the map, the radar system, located in the front and rear bumpers, can analyze or interpret the surroundings, then it calculates the distances to the impending obstacles or the vehicles ahead. The sensors in the left or right rear wheel can detect the car’s position relative to the sideways movement. Simultaneously, the whole operation system is closely linked with Google Maps to notice in advance of landmarks, traffic signs and alert lights until the arrival (“Driverless car,” n.d.).

The artificial intelligence software, closely connected with all the sensors and embedded in the car operation system, is responsible for human perceptual simulation or decision-making processes and control over steering, braking and other actions. For example, the self-driving car contains the automatic braking system that can process the braking action for emergency stops without human operation. Besides, the self-parking function enables a self-driving vehicle to drop passengers off, and then it can drive automatically to the parking