Self driving cars

Why in news?

Recent crash involving an Uber driverless car in Arizona has ignited the debate on driverless car.

What does self driving car means?

• Self-driving or driverless or robotic cars use artificial intelligence and computing power to navigate from point A to point B, sensing their environment and making decisions in real time to avert mishaps.
• They do this using a range of sensors and cameras on all sides, as well as predetermined digital maps and real time inputs about traffic and obstacles.
• The first experimental self-driving cars started in 1984, but commercial trials are just a few years old.
• The US is the hotbed of this technology, with at least 27 companies including Tesla, Google and Volkswagen seeking permissions for tests in California alone.

Why do we need driverless cars?

• In theory, it is great economics.
• The 120 crore cars in the world sit idle for almost 95% of the time, making them perhaps the most inefficient human creation ever.
• Uber thinks that if all cars were autonomous and shared to scale, they could eliminate 90% of these vehicles.
• For residents of cities from Los Angeles to New Delhi, traumatised by traffic jams, this is an attractive idea.
• Fewer cars also mean reduced need for parking spaces and a drastic reduction in pollution.
• Plus, it is possible that self-driving cars would eliminate the human errors that kill thousands on the roads every year.
• From Google to Uber to Nissan, dozens of companies are working on the concept of self-driving cars with varying degrees of autonomy.
• All have different end goals — from reducing the number of cars on the road to making cars more efficient and safe.

Are there any laws to regulate these cars?

• None exists in reality.
• Recently, California became one of the first US states to draft a set of broad rules for the “autonomous test vehicles” on its roads.
• Among other requirements, the company running a test vehicle must put a driver behind the wheel as a failsafe.
• The draft also made it mandatory to make it known to everyone on the road that the vehicle is an autonomous one.

What are the obstacles for this technology?

• Google’s self-driving car has been caught in multiple collisions.
• And recent Uber self driving car crash despite the fault was on other car.
• The technology is clearly nascent, and subject to other factors such as errors made by humans in other cars.
• INDIA, with its chaotic driving environment, presents a slew of challenges for this new revolutionary technological concept.

Source: The Indian Expres