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The car market has always been known for being relatively conservative in regards to predictions. With that in mind, they are usually pretty tight lipped about autonomous cars. Yes, they admit they are coming, but they won’t really say when. That changed during CES 2015, when Ford’s CEO Mark Fields said they will be here in five years. Many analysts believe that if someone from the industry is saying they will be here in five years, they will be here even sooner than that. That means these modified cars should be available soon.

Which Companies Are Leading the Charge?

There is a lot of speculation around who will be the first to introduce autonomous cars. Tech giant Google has created several autonomous cars for testing. These cars go 25 mph and can run for about 80 miles. Obviously, these modified cars won’t drive people across the country but they are a solid starting point.

Tesla also wants to be a major player in autonomous cars. In fact, the company is actively working on developing technology to protect self-driving software from attacks. This is incredibly important, since these modified cars will open the door for cyber terrorists.

While Google and Tesla plan to develop autonomous cars and related technology, many insiders actually expect the major automakers to lead the way. Ford, Toyota, and others are currently testing autonomous vehicles.

Regulations

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, says that autonomous vehicles will likely be ready long before the regulations are in place. This has lawmakers scrambling to determine how to handle these new vehicles.

While the lawmakers scramble, automakers have come up with a game plan that seems to be working. They are easing into it.

Easing into It

While the technology and the legislation is not ready for fully autonomous cars to hit the market quite yet, the market is ready for various autonomous features. Some vehicles use sensors to slow down and brake when needed. You can even get a car with Active Lane Assist so you will be forced back into your lane if you start to drift off. Night View Assist is another new feature. It actually uses infrared cameras to detect people, animals, and objects.

It is no secret that autonomous vehicles are coming. The only question has been when. Now, it looks like that question is getting answered, and it is much sooner than many people expected.



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darcyw

you can take your god damned autonomous cars and throw them in the lake- see my letter to the editor in Automobile magazine in early 2014. Now you know my opinion.

Stupidity drives the automotive industry now, i swear. Loss of haptic radio and climate controls is the first real blunder. the second was total connectivity. the third will be autonomous cars. Just because everyone's doing it, doesn't make it the right way to go.

All those teen agers will be able to let their cars drive them around autonomously while they have sex in the back- its what i'd do. you do realize that's the very first thing people are going to do, right? remember when the interweb first came out...

So what are the issues with self driving cars?
who's at fault in an accident? "I wasn't driving, the car was officer."
what about dui's? can you be under the influence and still have an autonomous car "drive"?
how about low vision drivers who don't pass the driving test? will they be able to buy/"drive" an autonomous car?
What about systems that are camera driven? you think the camera lenses will stay clean and provide valid data to the computer? GIGO.

I suppose I'm a vocal minority. I'm a driver. "learn to fu**in' drive yourself". Don't let the computers do it for you. Don't let google or apple tell you what your next car will be.

Someone convince me why autonomous cars are a good idea. I'll listen to your opinion. maybe.

darcy

Adrenalize

I'm with you Darcy!

8.5kallday

Cant wait to see one of these on the road one day and crash lmaoooo then the owner of the car will probably sue the manufacturer (google,tesla) cause they got hurt in a car that was driving itself into a tree lmaoo Then all this shit will go away and let us drivers be drivers and the idiots be idiots..I agree with darcy about the sex thing. If im not driving I get bored so might as well let me gf choke my chicken while enjoying the ride lol

Yep its me
rosario717

Mr.E.G.

Here's the thing, the firm I work for has litigated its fair share of products liability cases against car manufacturers for defects that have maimed and killed people. We have a case currently wherein an adorable 16-month-old girl has suffered a serious brain injury. In fact, she has to have a surgery soon wherein they will remove her face and eyeball and re-break and set part of her skull with a piece of bone extracted from her leg, so that they may stop a portion of her brain from poking down into her eye socket and keep spinal fluid from continuing to leak out of her nose and eyes.

Now, you're probably thinking, "What happened? Did the wheel fall off? Did the car suffer from a steering failure?" None of the above. Their vehicle was rear-ended at a relatively low rate of speed and one of the front seats flat-out collapsed, causing the seat to fling rearward (technically, the seat stayed put and the car moved toward it, what with inertia and all) striking the child in the head. In essence, we have a case involving a catastrophic injury resulting from an automaker's inability to make a seat do the one thing that a seat has to do.

Forgive me if I am skeptical that they will be able to make, in my lifetime, a robot car that can simultaneously communicate with other robot cars and interactive road features, navigate on roads that change faster than navigation programs are updated, traverse the millions of non-robot driven cars who utterly lack the capacity to communicate with the robot cars, and do all of it safely when they can't all even make cars with seats that do seat stuff properly.

I mean, really, do any of you own any software driven device (phone, computer, etc.) that hasn't failed routinely? Why is it that we think that the software in autonomous cars is suddenly going to make those problems go away? If anything, the complexity found in taking numerous protocols and systems and making them communicate harmoniously, and then turn the resultant signal nto a mechanical input used to pilot a vehicle under everchanging circumstances, well, that makes what a cell phone does look like child's play.

If unimpeded by legislation that wishes to stave off the aforementioned problems, I have no doubt that autonomous cars will one day be possible. But I have seen nothing to suggest that automakers have the wherewithal or expertise to make it happen safely any time in the near future.

jeffbrig

I'm a software engineer. I work on mission critical communication products. Stuff that has to be work 99.99999999% of the time. Drop a voice call and someone potentially dies. Now, there's a big difference in quality between consumer grade cell phones (and the networks they operate on) and what we make for first responders.

That said....software can only be as good as you specify it, and have the ability to test it. With cars, driving, and a mix of autonomous and boneheaded live drivers, there is NO way to foresee all possible scenarios. The best you could possibly hope to do is come up with some magic AI that can somehow evaluate predictive outcomes and make guesses at how to deal with a driving emergency. But the algorithm is only as good as what the developers think to put in it. How do you deal with white out conditions in a severe thunderstorm? What about a *gasp* tornado ahead? What if an earthquake hits as you're approaching a bridge, or double decker highway? How about pavement shifts in construction zones? What if the lane stripes are faded or missing? How about 2 guys with handheld Slow/Stop signs directing traffic around a closed lane on a 2 lane backroad? What about a police cruiser with lights and siren blazing going through an intersection while the light is red? What about a crossing guard in a school zone without traffic lights? I could go all day, and developers would have to figure out how to add checks to account for every possible scenario. I just don't think it can realistically be done.

A self-driving car with either have to do everything so slowly that it can safely go full stop anytime it gets confused as a fail-safe. Or, someone is going to die. Just a question of when. Imagine an autonomous car gets into an accident with a driven car. Say the live driver blows a red light and gets T-boned and dies. How in the hell is the autonomous car manufacturer going to avoid liability? How do you prove who was at fault? How do you know if the autonomous car messed up? How can you prove that it didn't? Can you even trust the sensor data from the car's black box? The manufacturer providing the data isn't exactly a neutral party. I can't understand why any company would open themselves up to the risk.

I get the coolness factor of autonomous vehicles. Heck, my senior project in college was an RC truck that could drive itself and do basic obstacle avoidance while navigating to a waypoint using GPS (trust me, this was impressive stuff in the late 90s). The only way I see autonomous vehicles working is if there's an alternate highway system (think of current HOV/express lanes in many cities), where only autonomous vehicles are used. Make it a smart highway with special markers to communicate with the cars. Cars would be in constant communication with the roadway and each other, and be able to take advantage of small gaps between cars for drafting (fuel milegage), and improving vehicle throughput (more cars per lane). Throw non-autonomous vehicles into that system and it just doesn't work. Oh, and good luck if the system ever goes out.

To (poorly) paraphrase Charlton Heston, you can have my steering wheel when you pry it from my cold, dead hand. (I'll keep the 3rd pedal too, thanks)

/soapbox

AngryTurtle

They said the same shit about elevators. Just go with it. At least give it a chance.

jeffbrig

Gigdy, this the internet. Your logical, well-reasoned, rational tone has no place here.

SlowTeg

If autonomous cars come out, cool. You know what folks? They're definitely coming, the only question is when. The big question will be what happens to human piloted cars. At what point will humans be deemed too unsafe to drive, and it's for the "greater good" that everyone drive an autonomous car? Hell if I know, but I'll likely be dead by then.

I like the idea of a simple "autopilot" for longer trips and driving on the highway, but it'll be some time before I'd trust a car fully driving itself, for many of the reasons mentioned here.

rob-2

I'm more comfortable with less teenagers driving and programs developed by adults controlling the vehicles.

I'm also not being forced to buy one. So most of this crap from darcy is just entertainment. I don't care if people have sex in cars, fall asleep or drive without seat belts. I'm very comfortable with the idea that people are responsible for the choices they make in life. If these new cars get hacked and people die. That's on the owners and manufacturers. I will surely be able to get out of the way in time with my human driven vehicle. Most of the current testing shows the computers crash less frequently. What does come into question is how do these cars drive in snow storms? Sensors get clogged, block and the like. In white out conditions, the road lines might not be visible. Am I comfortable with these cars saying "Sorry cannot drive in these conditions"? You bet, less people on the roads.

I am honestly seeing only upside here folks. People who dislike driving, will get cars that drive themselves, probably in the middle lane doing the speed limit. We can put small motors in them too, because who cares? It drives, you don't need a computer to be super fast when it only does what is safe. This will leave room for me to drive 10-15 over in the passing lane like the roads were design and improve fleet MPG. Might even deal with my morning commute problems. Take the stress out of lazy drivers getting to work and let the car do it for them. Should see less road rage.

If you recall, people got up in arms about hybrid technology and electric cars taking over the auto industry. Claiming the death of the v8 during peak oil prices just before the recession. Well a few years later, no death of the v8. They're still for sale and I bought one!

In America, we'll enjoy freedom of choice. Darcy, you're likely to be forced to buy one because you don't enjoy the same freedoms we do here. Your ultra liberal government will once again decide they know best. People just aren't smart enough to drive. My suggestion, leave Canada and join the rest of us freedom lovers state side. From one Canadian to another, once you do, you'll never even want to visit again.

Long live freedom