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Dear Tech-Blog readers,
For 125 years the automotive industry has been a force for innovation and economic growth. Now, in the early decades of the 21st century, the pace of innovation is speeding up and the industry is on the brink of a new technological revolution: “self-driving” vehicles. The new technology could provide solutions to some of our most intractable social problems—the high cost of traffic crashes and transportation infrastructure, the millions of hours wasted in traffic jams, and the wasted urban space given over to parking lots, just to name a few.
Besides, we've all had those days where we rushing around, trying to get errands done and while our mind was someplace else, the car in front of us stopped, and we rear-ended it.What could have prevented the accident? The obvious answer is that we could have, by paying attention. But that answer isn't so simple. Driver error is the most common cause of traffic accidents, and with cell phones, in-car entertainment systems, more traffic and more complicated road systems, it isn't likely to go away. But if drivers aren't going to concentrate on the road, who is? If technology continues on its current course, our car will do the concentrating for us.
For 125 years the automotive industry has been a force for innovation and economic growth. Now, in the early decades of the 21st century, the pace of innovation is speeding up and the industry is on the brink of a new technological revolution: “self-driving” vehicles. The new technology could provide solutions to some of our most intractable social problems—the high cost of traffic crashes and transportation infrastructure, the millions of hours wasted in traffic jams, and the wasted urban space given over to parking lots, just to name a few.
Besides, we've all had those days where we rushing around, trying to get errands done and while our mind was someplace else, the car in front of us stopped, and we rear-ended it.What could have prevented the accident? The obvious answer is that we could have, by paying attention. But that answer isn't so simple. Driver error is the most common cause of traffic accidents, and with cell phones, in-car entertainment systems, more traffic and more complicated road systems, it isn't likely to go away. But if drivers aren't going to concentrate on the road, who is? If technology continues on its current course, our car will do the concentrating for us.
But if self-driving vehicles become a reality, the implications would also be profoundly disruptive for almost every stakeholder in the automotive ecosystem. As one industry executive put it, "Everything, from how we move goods to how we move ourselves around, is ripe for change".
However, can we build a safe, self-driving vehicle? Yes. In fact, Google has already logged more than 200,000 miles in a fleet of self-driving cars retrofitted with sensors. And Google is not alone; traditional automakers and suppliers have also developed self-driving functionality using sensor-based solutions and have a host of new applications in the pipeline. At the same time, several manufacturers have driverless cars in the works, but since Google of all places has the jump on this project, they're also more forthcoming (sort of) about how their cars work.
The Chauffeur system, as they call it, uses lidar, which stands for light detection and ranging and is not related to the liger, which is a lion and a tiger. Lidar works like radar and sonar, but it's far more accurate. It maps points in space using 64 rotating laser beams taking more than a million measurements per second to form a 3D model in its computer brain that's accurate to the centimeter. Preloaded maps tell the system where the stationary stuff is, traffic lights, crosswalks, telephone poles, and the lidar fills in the landscape with moving objects like people. It also has regular ol' radar, a camera and GPS to help out.
The Chauffeur system, as they call it, uses lidar, which stands for light detection and ranging and is not related to the liger, which is a lion and a tiger. Lidar works like radar and sonar, but it's far more accurate. It maps points in space using 64 rotating laser beams taking more than a million measurements per second to form a 3D model in its computer brain that's accurate to the centimeter. Preloaded maps tell the system where the stationary stuff is, traffic lights, crosswalks, telephone poles, and the lidar fills in the landscape with moving objects like people. It also has regular ol' radar, a camera and GPS to help out.
Thanks!
Resource:
KPMG Group
auto.howstuffworks.com
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