Driverless vehicles rely on Artificial Intelligence (AI), sensors, radar, and cameras to navigate the streets without human intervention. These technologies improve the efficiency of driverless vehicles in traveling on unplanned routes safely. While driverless vehicles are convenient for navigating unfamiliar routes, safety concerns continue rising among tech consumers.
Self-driving cars have had 400 car crashes in 11 months, making us want to know if they’re safe especially for children. Car crashes usually result in serious injuries and lawsuits. In case of a lawsuit, you’d hire an attorney from a law firm such as Bryan R. Kazarian who take child endangerment seriously.
Automakers continue to upgrade AI algorithms and use the latest radar technology. Does this mean self-driving cars will crash less (if not at all) in the future?
The Techs Powering Autopilot
Tesla, BMW, and Volvo are some automakers bracing consumers with vehicles with autopilot. These companies and many others use various technologies to power autopilot. As a result, the vehicles in their fleet can self-drive.
Cameras
Self-driving cars rely on cameras to see the streets and observe traffic rules. Autonomous vehicles have cameras placed all around them for a 360º view. These cameras can detect speed limits on road signs and control the vehicle’s speed.
LIDAR Technology
In addition to AI-powered cameras, self-driving vehicles have special devices that emit invisible light waves. The light bounces off obstacles back to a receiver. The receiver calculates the distance of the obstacle based on the time the light pulse travels back. The autopilot can steer the vehicle away from the collision path.
Radar Technology
Radar technology has the same principle of operation as lidar. However, it emits radio waves instead of light. The technology can detect objects on a vehicle’s path and reveal its location. Since no single tech is efficient, self-driving vehicles rely on these three for a more efficient autopilot.
The Safety of Self-Driving Vehicles
Even though vehicles with driver-assist autopilot drive efficiently, they get accidents sometimes. Combining various autopilot technologies improves driving efficiency. However, some situations may cause these vehicles to get into accidents.
Adversarial Vehicles on the Road
Some accident incidents are out of the vehicle’s control. While the driver assist can auto-brake if sensors detect an obstacle, a sudden lane change by other vehicles may cause an accident. What’s more, the sensors may fail to detect obstacles. Similar technological failures caused a Tesla accident in 2016.
Unmapped Roads
Mapped roads have elaborated traffic signs to help self-driving cars anticipate traffic stops and diversions. The detailed map allows a self-driving car to navigate a street safely. But if a street is unmapped, your vehicle may not know what to expect on its path. As a result, it might cause a traffic fatality, especially if there are construction zones.
Conclusion
Self-driving vehicles use more sensors to improve the driving experience. These vehicles rely on cameras and lidars on clear days to see the road ahead. If visibility is poor, they can use radar to see objects and steer away. Multiple sensors make the autopilot more efficient. But self-driving vehicles also cause accidents. Usually, other vehicles contribute to these accidents. However, sensor failures can also cause motor accidents. As algorithms improve, we can expect the sensors to become more efficient and reduce accidents.
