Nissan
Motor Company recently took the automobile industry by surprise when it
promised to deliver ‘autonomous cars’ in less than seven years from
now.
The Nissan Chief Executive Officer, Mr.
Carlos Ghosn, announced that the company would be selling the specially
built vehicles to the general public by 2020.
An autonomous car, according to the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia,
refers to a robotic car, or a self-driving vehicle capable of
fulfilling the human transportation capabilities of a traditional car.
Experts say a robotic vehicle is capable
of sensing its environment and navigating without human input. It does
this with such techniques as radar, lidar, Global Positioning System and
computer vision.
The idea of having autonomous vehicles may sound unrealistic but experts say it is feasible.
Autonomous cars have at least been in
the public consciousness for ages. If not around the corner, they were
around the corner of the horizon, according an online auto reviewer, Car
and driver.
It was as if other automobile
manufacturers were waiting for the Nissan’s announcement. Mercedes Benz,
General Motors, BMW, Google and several other firms have confirmed
working on similar efforts. Many have settled for 2020 for the roll out.
For instance, Mercedes has just showcased its fully autonomous S-Class, promising the production version in 2020.
A report on Sunday by digitaltrends.com
indicated that while the newly redesigned 2014 S-Class had some
autonomous capabilities, mostly useful for driving in stop-and-go
traffic, Mercedes has also built a fully autonomous prototype, the 2020
version, which would drive itself.
It reported that last month, the S500 Intelligent Drive went on a 60-mile road trip in Germany.
The S500 Intelligent Drive was said to
have conquered traffic, stoplights, roundabouts, and other driving
obstacles without crashing once, according to Mercedes. However, an
engineer seated behind the wheel did have to take control in a few
instances.
With its array of cameras, sensors, and
radar, the 2014 S-Class already had the makings of an autonomous car; it
could gather enough data about its environment to support an autopilot.
The S500 Intelligent Drive uses this
data, along with a digital map, to determine where it can go. The map
was developed by Nokia, and includes important details like the number
and direction of lanes, position of traffic lights, and road signs.
The Japanese auto giant, Toyota Motor
Corporation, is not left out of the autonomous car passion. It had
unveiled the prototype in January but said it would keep drivers in
control.
The firm said at a press conference in
Las Vegas that the vehicle was based on a Lexus LS and used for research
at the Toyota Research Institute in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The car
carries forward-looking and side-facing millimeter-wave radar sensors,
as well as a 360-degree laser scanner that collects three-dimensional
data on anything nearby.
But the product coming from the General
Motors is a bit different. Rather than push for a fully autonomous car,
it is working on a semi-autonomous Super Cruise.
Experts recalled that the product, which
was first tested in April 2012, would be eventually used on some
Cadillacs before trickling down to the rest of the General Motors’
family.
The system is still in development, according to a GM’s director, John Capp.
Another online report on the issue by
Autoblog notes the worry in some quarters that semi-autonomous cars will
lead to drivers treating the cars as fully autonomous (a seriously
dangerous situation).
It quotes a GM engineer, Charles Green,
as saying, “Super Cruise will be designed in a way to keep your visual
attention on the road ahead. The ‘how’ is something that will become
more apparent as we show Super Cruise in its later versions.”
Opinions are divided on the desirability
of autonomous cars in Africa. The views are similar to those from
experts and other concerned people in other parts of the world.
A technical officer in the Department of
Violence and Injury Prevention at the World Health Organisation, Tami
Toroyan, raises the fears that it may increase the accident rate.
Already, he said, “The African region
has two per cent of the world’s registered vehicles but a
disproportionate 16 per cent of the world’s road traffic deaths.”
A commentator, Joe Dokes, in a response, says, the development can reduce accidents.
He says, “There are a number of reasons for the high death toll in Africa, few of which would be mitigated by autonomous cars.”
He also identifies the lack of clear and consistent enforcement of traffic laws as a major hindrance.
“One of the main reasons that Google
cars can safely navigate in the US and Europe is that the computer can
assume the behaviour of other cars on the road,” he says.
Experts, however, note
that before the world is ready for autonomous vehicles, the industry and
policy makers should expect professional drivers to protest the
expected loss of jobs. The legal issues surrounding such project will
have to be fully addressed, they add.
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