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 engineering.
In addition, it has the bright perspective in reality and potential strategic value as well. The driverless car, serving as the testing cradle or the ideal carrier of burgeoning innovations, benefits from the applied modern technologies and is becoming safer and more reliable. As a result, self-driving cars, by effectively combining the intelligent transportation system with the traditional industry of automobiles, are expected to change the way to travel for human beings in the next several decades.
Formal definition
1. 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 lower the accident risks (Leung, El Faouzi, & Kurian, 2011).
Principles
1. Systems & Functions The cooperation of onboard computers, 3D laser-mapping detector, Global Positioning System (GPS) module, stereo cameras and radar sensors plays a significant role in the hardware system of the self-driving car. The intelligence of a self-driving car is mainly attributed to its software systems including information accumulation, visual assistance and control assistance. Based on the results of navigation and traffic sign recognition, the driverless car is able to realize “self-control” by emergency braking, adaptive cruise control and intelligent speed adaptation. At the same time, the automatic braking and the lane keeping are constantly active through crash avoidance systems, which also contain the lane departure warning and the blind spot detection system (Bohm & Hager, 2015).
2. Working Process The artificial intelligence software, closely connected with all the sensors and embedded in the car operation system, is responsible for human perceptual simulation or robotic decision-making process and control over steering, braking and other actions. Based on the setting of destination, GPS software calculates and designs an ideal route that helps navigate the way. 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. . ).
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 lot. Advantages 1. Safety & Convenience It is widely acknowledged that robot drivers react faster, have better perception of danger and are not easily distracted.
One thing the driverless car is supposed to do is to remove the human error such as operating error, which is deemed to be the major cause of almost all traffic accidents, or insufficient experiences of driving. In addition, driverless cars would provide passengers with comfortable and enjoyable riding experience such as relaxing, reading or working during traveling. Besides, Frey (2012) notes that, without the cost of drivers, the driverless car is expected to promote the reduction of redundant car ownerships and the development of ride-sharing owing to its affordability.
Moreover, the self-driving vehicles have the potential to facilitate the improvement of mobility and the convenience of life for the elderly and the handicapped people (Davies, 2013). 2. Traffic patterns Furthermore, the application of self-driving cars will contribute to the development of intelligent transport system that makes it possible that each individual vehicle would collectively accumulate driving experience or exchange information from one other to be more skilled and intelligent.
It would not only strengthen the connections of vehicle and infrastructure but also facilitate the vehicle-to-vehicle communications. In that case, the efficiency of public transportation will be dramatically improved because of less traffic jams, bigger highway capacity and more fluent traffic flow; therefore, most of the traffic congestions would be greatly alleviated (Biancuzzo, 2013).