Level Five Autonomous Cars Forget The Human Element

on May 19, 2019 at 9:34 pm

Around 71% of United States drivers have indicated that they would be afraid to ride in a self-driven car, which places quite the damper on the autonomous car market. For the 175 million U.S. drivers who decided that autonomous driving still requires a fair amount of time to work out the kinks, almost there simply won’t cut it. The 75 million drivers who are willing to jump into an autonomous car may know something the rest don’t, or they’re simply not aware that human intervention is not in the future plans of the autonomous car.

2020 Earmarked As A Fully Autonomous Year

According to Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, as early as 2020, the autonomous car won’t need driver intervention. He also maintains that level 5 autonomous vehicles will have no geofence, which means that they can drive anywhere on the planet irrespective of conditions or current limitations. While these cars will certainly open up many doors for car owners, there is that lingering question of doubt when the superchip fails and manual intervention is impossible. For those on the design side, the mission is to equip drivers with a car that is infallible, and safety ratings will need to be off the charts in order for drivers to relinquish control. If 2020 is the year earmarked for this groundbreaking development, developers have a lot of ground to cover.

Traveling By Automobile As Safe As Flying A Plane

This is the vision of auto manufacturers for 2020 and beyond: that driving in a car will be as safe as flying in a plane. With the race to get the first level 5 autonomous car out on the road, this will be a groundbreaking era for traveling. This does, however, require the complete and total loss of human intervention, according to manufacturers. This means no steering wheel, no brake pedals, and absolutely no gas pedal. While this might seem like a massive undertaking, if all cars on the road are automated and connected through Internet of Things (IoT) technology, this will ensure a far safer travel system. Not only will traffic flow freely and effortlessly, but the odds of bottlenecking and spectator delays will be reduced. This also places far less risk on the industry as a whole, which could have a positive effect on the overall cost of driving.

Autonomous Tech Gets A Security Boost

One of the fundamental steps manufacturers will have to take to ensure that consumers are more open to the idea of leaving their traveling in the hands of artificial intelligence, is knowing that the trip can’t be compromised by hackers and opportunists. BlackBerry, in partnership with automakers, have developed their QNX system, which promises to be a revolutionary technology to keep autonomous cars connected. A large portion of their research, however, is channeled towards securing the network in order to minimize the risk to drivers from outside attacks. For drivers to accept a level 5 autonomous car, this execution will need to be flawless. LADYX

While there is merit in the autonomous car, one surely has to wonder whether this would suck the joy of the ride right out of traveling, when there is no pleasure of taking the turns on long and winding roads or choosing the perfect moment to shift a gear. Even the thought of sliding in behind the wheel of a new car will become a distant memory.