SELF DRIVING CARS

A self-driving car, also known as a robot car, autonomous car, or driverless car,[1][2] is
a vehicle that is capable of sensing its environment and moving with little or no human input.[3]
Autonomous cars combine a variety of sensors to perceive their surroundings, such
as radar, computer vision, Lidar, sonar, GPS, odometry and inertial measurement units.
Advanced control systems interpret sensory information to identify appropriate navigation paths, as
well as obstacles and relevant signage.[4][5]
Potential benefits include reduced costs, increased safety, increased mobility, increased customer
satisfaction and reduced crime. Safety benefits include a reduction in traffic collisions,[6][7] resulting
injuries and related costs, including for insurance. Automated cars are predicted to increase traffic
flow;[8] provide enhanced mobility for children, the elderly,[9] disabled, and the poor; relieve travelers
from driving and navigation chores; increase fuel efficiency of vehicle;[10] significantly reduce needs
for parking space;[11] reduce crime;[12] and facilitate business models for transportation as a service,
especially via the sharing economy.[13][14]
Problems include safety,[15] technology, liability,[16][17] legal framework and government regulations;
risk of loss of privacy and security concerns, such as hackers or terrorism; concern about the
resulting loss of driving-related jobs in the road transport industry; and risk of
increased suburbanization as travel becomes more convenient.[10]

Autonomous vs. automated[edit]

Autonomous means self-governing.[47] Many historical projects related to vehicle automation have
been automated (made automatic) subject to a heavy reliance on artificial aids in their environment,
such as magnetic strips. Autonomous control implies satisfactory performance under significant
uncertainties in the environment and the ability to compensate for system failures without external
intervention.[47]
One approach is to implement communication networks both in the immediate vicinity (for collision
avoidance) and farther away (for congestion management). Such outside influences in the decision
process reduce an individual vehicle's autonomy, while still not requiring human intervention.
Wood et al. (2012) wrote, "This Article generally uses the term 'autonomous,' instead of the term
'automated.' " The term "autonomous" was chosen "because it is the term that is currently in more
widespread use (and thus is more familiar to the general public). However, the latter term is arguably
more accurate. 'Automated' connotes control or operation by a machine, while 'autonomous'
connotes acting alone or independently. Most of the vehicle concepts (that we are currently aware
of) have a person in the driver’s seat, utilize a communication connection to the Cloud or other
vehicles, and do not independently select either destinations or routes for reaching them. Thus, the
term 'automated' would more accurately describe these vehicle concepts."[48] As of 2017, most
commercial projects focused on automated vehicles that did not communicate with other vehicles or
with an enveloping management regime.
Put in the words of one Nissan engineer, "A truly autonomous car would be one where you request it
to take you to work and it decides to go to the beach instead."[49]
EuroNCAP defines autonomous in "Autonomous Emergency Braking" as: "the system acts
independently of the driver to avoid or mitigate the accident." which implies the autonomous system
is not the driver.[50]

Autonomous versus cooperative[edit]

To make a car travel without any driver embedded within the vehicle some system makers used a
remote driver.
But according to SAE J3016,
Some driving automation systems may indeed be autonomous if they perform all of their functions
independently and self-sufficiently, but if they depend on communication and/or cooperation with
outside entities, they should be considered cooperative rather than autonomous.
Self-driving car[edit]
Techemergence says.
“Self-driving” is a rather vague term with a vague meaning

— Techemergence[51]
PC mag definition is:
A computer-controlled car that drives itself. Also called an "autonomous vehicle" and "driverless car,"
self-driving cars date back to the 1939 New York World's Fair when General Motors predicted the
development of self-driving, radio-controlled electric cars.

— PCmag.[52]
UCSUSA definition is:
Self-driving vehicles are cars or trucks in which human drivers are never required to take control to
safely operate the vehicle. Also known as autonomous or “driverless” cars, they combine sensors
and software to control, navigate, and drive the vehicle. Currently, there are no legally operating,
fully autonomous vehicles in the United States.

— UCSUSA[53]
NHTSA definition is:
These self-driving vehicles ultimately will integrate onto U.S. roadways by progressing through six
levels of driver assistance technology advancements in the coming years. This includes everything
from no automation (where a fully engaged driver is required at all times), to full autonomy (where an
automated vehicle operates independently, without a human driver).

— NHTSA.[54]
NHTSA definition is:
Let’s be clear: fully automated or “self-driving” vehicles aren’t arriving in showrooms tomorrow;
they’re likely years, maybe even decades, away. What we’re experiencing is an evolution in vehicle
safety that is leading toward cars and trucks that help us drive more safely.

— NHTSA.[55]
According to Techemergence
This means the vehicle can safely drive itself under specific conditions but the driver will need to
quickly intervene when called on. This is a car that could drive itself on the highway while you watch
a movie but would need you to take control when you get off the highway. Some may view this as
only partially self-driving.

— Techemergence,[51] July 2018

According to Techemergence
it will be useful to understand that most executives referring to “self-driving” are referring to levels 3
and 4.

— Techemergence,[51] July 2018

Levels of driving automation[edit]
In SAE's automation level definitions, "driving mode" means "a type of driving scenario with
characteristic dynamic driving task requirements (e.g., expressway merging, high speed cruising,
low speed traffic jam, closed-campus operations, etc.)"[61]

 Level 0: Automated system issues warnings and may momentarily intervene but has no
sustained vehicle control.
 Level 1 ("hands on"): The driver and the automated system share control of the vehicle.
Examples are Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), where the driver controls steering and the
automated system controls speed; and Parking Assistance, where steering is automated while
speed is under manual control. The driver must be ready to retake full control at any time. Lane
Keeping Assistance (LKA) Type II is a further example of level 1 self-driving.
 Level 2 ("hands off"): The automated system takes full control of the vehicle (accelerating,
braking, and steering). The driver must monitor the driving and be prepared to intervene
immediately at any time if the automated system fails to respond properly. The shorthand "hands
off" is not meant to be taken literally. In fact, contact between hand and wheel is often
mandatory during SAE 2 driving, to confirm that the driver is ready to intervene.
 Level 3 ("eyes off"): The driver can safely turn their attention away from the driving tasks, e.g.
the driver can text or watch a movie. The vehicle will handle situations that call for an immediate
response, like emergency braking. The driver must still be prepared to intervene within some
limited time, specified by the manufacturer, when called upon by the vehicle to do so. As an
example, the 2018 Audi A8 Luxury Sedan was the first commercial car to claim to be capable of
level 3 self-driving. This particular car has a so-called Traffic Jam Pilot. When activated by the
human driver, the car takes full control of all aspects of driving in slow-moving traffic at up to 60
kilometres per hour (37 mph). The function works only on highways with a physical barrier
separating one stream of traffic from oncoming traffic.
 Level 4 ("mind off"): As level 3, but no driver attention is ever required for safety, e.g. the driver
may safely go to sleep or leave the driver's seat. Self-driving is supported only in limited spatial
areas (geofenced) or under special circumstances, like traffic jams. Outside of these areas or
circumstances, the vehicle must be able to safely abort the trip, e.g. park the car, if the driver
does not retake control.
 Level 5 ("steering wheel optional"): No human intervention is required at all. An example would
be a robotic taxi.
In the formal SAE definition below, note in particular what happens in the shift from SAE 2 to SAE 3:
the human driver no longer has to monitor the environment. This is the final aspect of the "dynamic
driving task" that is now passed over from the human to the automated system. At SAE 3, the
human driver still has the responsibility to intervene when asked to do so by the automated system.
At SAE 4 the human driver is relieved of that responsibility and at SAE 5 the automated system will
never need to ask for an intervention
Legal definition[edit]
In the District of Columbia (DC) code,
“Autonomous vehicle” means a vehicle capable of navigating District roadways and interpreting
traffic-control devices without a driver actively operating any of the vehicle’s control systems. The
term “autonomous vehicle” excludes a motor vehicle enabled with active safety systems or driver-
assistance systems, including systems to provide electronic blind-spot assistance, crash avoidance,
emergency braking, parking assistance, adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assistance, lane-
departure warning, or traffic-jam and queuing assistance, unless the system alone or in combination
with other systems enables the vehicle on which the technology is installed to drive without active
control or monitoring by a human operator.
In the same district code, it is considered that:
An autonomous vehicle may operate on a public roadway; provided, that the vehicle:

 (1) Has a manual override feature that allows a driver to assume control of the autonomous
vehicle at any time;
 (2) Has a driver seated in the control seat of the vehicle while in operation who is prepared to
take control of the autonomous vehicle at any moment; and
 (3) Is capable of operating in compliance with the District’s applicable traffic laws and motor
vehicle laws and traffic control devices.

Semi-automated vehicles[edit]
Between manually driven vehicles (SAE Level 0) and fully autonomous vehicles (SAE Level 5), there
are a variety of vehicle types that can be described to have some degree of automation. These are
collectively known as semi-automated vehicles. As it could be a while before the technology and
infrastructure is developed for full automation, it is likely that vehicles will have increasing levels of
automation. These semi-automated vehicles could potentially harness many of the advantages of
fully automated vehicles, while still keeping the driver in charge of the vehicle.

Technical challenges[edit]
Main article: Hybrid navigation
The challenge for driverless car designers is to produce control systems capable of analyzing
sensory data in order to provide accurate detection of other vehicles and the road ahead.[62] Modern
self-driving cars generally use Bayesian simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM)
algorithms,[63] which fuse data from multiple sensors and an off-line map into current location
estimates and map updates. Waymo has developed a variant of SLAM with detection and tracking of
other moving objects (DATMO), which also handles obstacles such as cars and pedestrians. Simpler
systems may use roadside real-time locating system (RTLS) technologies to aid localization. Typical
sensors include Lidar, stereo vision, GPS and IMU.[64][65] Udacity is developing an open-source
software stack.[66] Control systems on automated cars may use Sensor Fusion, which is an approach
that integrates information from a variety of sensors on the car to produce a more consistent,
accurate, and useful view of the environment.[67]
Driverless vehicles require some form of machine vision for the purpose of visual object recognition.
Automated cars are being developed with deep neural networks,[64] a type of deep
learningarchitecture with many computational stages, or levels, in which neurons are simulated from
the environment that activate the network.[68] The neural network depends on an extensive amount of
data extracted from real-life driving scenarios,[64] enabling the neural network to "learn" how to
execute the best course of action.[68]
In May 2018, researchers from MIT announced that they had built an automated car that can
navigate unmapped roads.[69] Researchers at their Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory (CSAIL) have developed a new system, called MapLite, which allows self-driving cars to
drive on roads that they have never been on before, without using 3D maps. The system combines
the GPS position of the vehicle, a "sparse topological map" such as OpenStreetMap, (i.e. having 2D
features of the roads only), and a series of sensors that observe the road conditions.[70]
Heavy rainfall, hail, or snow could impede the car sensors.

Nature of the digital technology[edit]

Autonomous vehicles, as a digital technology, have certain characteristics that distinguishes them
from other types of technologies and vehicles. Due to these characteristics, autonomous vehicles
are able to be more transformative and agile to possible changes. The characteristics will be
explained based on the following subjects: homogenization and decoupling, connectivity,
reprogrammable and smart, digital traces and modularity.

Homogenization and decoupling[edit]

Homogenization comes from the fact that all digital information assumes the same form. During the
ongoing evolution of the digital era, certain industry standards have been developed on how to store
digital information and in what type of format. This concept of homogenization also implies to
autonomous vehicles. In order for autonomous vehicles to perceive their surroundings, they have to
use different techniques each with their own accompanying digital information (e.g. radar, GPS,
motion sensors and computer vision). Due to homogenization, the digital information from these
different techniques is stored in a homogeneous way. This implies that all digital information comes
in the same form, which means their differences are decoupled, and digital information can be
transmitted, stored and computed in a way that the vehicles and its operating system can better
understand and act upon it. Homogenization also helps to exponentially increase the computing
power of hard- and software (Moore's law) which also supports the autonomous vehicles to
understand and act upon the digital information in a more cost-effective way, therefore lowering the
marginal costs.;

Connectivity[edit]
Connectivity means that users of a certain digital technology can connect easily with other users,
other applications or even (other) enterprises. In the case of autonomous vehicles, it is essential for
them to connect with other ‘devices’ in order to function most effectively. Autonomous vehicles are
equipped with communication systems which allow them to communicate with other autonomous
vehicles and roadside units to provide them, amongst other things, with information about road work
or traffic congestion. In addition, scientists believe that the future will have computer programs that
connects and manages each individual autonomous vehicle as it navigates through an intersection.
This type of connectivity must replace traffic lights and stop signs.[71]These types of characteristics
drive and further develop the ability of autonomous vehicles to understand and cooperate with other
products and services (such as intersection computer systems) in the autonomous vehicles market.
This could lead to a network of autonomous vehicles all using the same network and information
available on that network. Eventually, this can lead to more autonomous vehicles using the network
because the information has been validated through usage of other autonomous vehicles. Such
movements will strengthen the value of the network and is called network externalities.;

Reprogrammable and smart[edit]

Another characteristic of autonomous vehicles is that the core product will have a greater emphasis
on the software and its possibilities, instead of the chassis and its engine. This is because
autonomous vehicles have software systems that drive the vehicle meaning that updates through
reprogramming or editing the software can enhance the benefits of the owner (e.g. update in better
distinguishing blind person vs. non-blind person so that the vehicle will take extra caution when
approaching a blind person). A characteristic of this reprogrammable part of autonomous vehicles is
that the updates need not only to come from the supplier, because through machine learning (smart)
autonomous vehicles can generate certain updates and install them accordingly (e.g. new navigation
maps or new intersection computer systems). These reprogrammable characteristics of the digital
technology and the possibility of smart machine learning give manufacturers of autonomous vehicles
the opportunity to differentiate themselves on software. This also implies that autonomous vehicles
are never finished because the product can be continuously be improved.

Digital traces[edit]
Autonomous vehicles are equipped with different sorts of sensors and radars. As said, this allows
them to connect and interoperate with computers from other autonomous vehicles and/or roadside
units. This implies that autonomous vehicles leave digital traces when they connect or interoperate.
The data that comes from these digital traces can be used to develop new (to be determined)
products or updates to enhance autonomous vehicles’ driving ability or safety.

Modularity[edit]
Traditional vehicles and their accompanying (traditional) technologies are manufactured as a product
that will be complete, and unlike autonomous vehicles, they can only be improved if they are
redesigned or reproduced. As said, autonomous vehicles are produced but due to their digital
characteristics never finished. This is because autonomous vehicles are more modular since they
are made up out of several modules which will be explained hereafter through a Layered Modular
Architecture. The Layered Modular Architecture extends the architecture of purely physical vehicles
by incorporating four loosely coupled layers of devices, networks, services and contents into
Autonomous Vehicles. These loosely coupled layers can interact through certain standardized
interfaces.
 (1) The first layer of this architecture consists of the device layer. This layer consists of the
following two parts: logical capability and physical machinery. The physical machinery refers to
the actual vehicle itself (e.g. chassis and carrosserie). When it comes to digital technologies, the
physical machinery is accompanied by a logical capability layer in the form of operating systems
that helps to guide the vehicles itself and make it autonomous. The logical capability provides
the control over the vehicle and connects it with the other layers.;
 (2) On top of the device layer comes the network layer. This layer also consists of two different
parts: physical transport and logical transmission. The physical transport layer refers to the
radars, sensors and cables of the autonomous vehicles which enable the transmission of digital
information. Next to that, the network layer of autonomous vehicles also has a logical
transmission which contains communication protocols and network standard to communicate the
digital information with other networks and platforms or between layers. This increases the
accessibility of the autonomous vehicles and enables computational power of a network or
platform.;
 (3) The service layer contains the applications and their functionalities that serves the
autonomous vehicle (and its owners) as they extract, create, store and consume content with
regards to their own driving history, traffic congestion, roads or parking abilities for example.;
and
 (4) The final layer of the model is the contents layer. This layer contains the sounds, images and
videos the autonomous vehicles store, extract and use to act upon and improve their driving and
understanding of the environment. The contents layer also provides metadata and directory
information about the content's origin, ownership, copyright, encoding methods, content tags,
geo-time stamps, and so on (Yoo et al., 2010).
The consequence of layered modular architecture of autonomous vehicles (and other digital
technologies) is that it enables the emergence and development of platforms and ecosystems
around a product and/or certain modules of that product. Traditionally, automotive vehicles were
developed, manufactured and maintained by traditional manufacturers. Nowadays app developers
and content creators can help to develop a more comprehensive product experience for the
consumers which creates a platform around the product of autonomous vehicles.}}

Human factor challenges[edit]

Self-driving cars are already exploring the difficulties of determining the intentions of pedestrians,
bicyclists, and animals, and models of behavior must be programmed in to driving algorithms.
Human road users also have the challenge of determining the intentions of autonomous vehicles,
where there is no driver with which to make eye contact or exchange hand signals. Drive.ai is testing
a solution to this problem that involves LED signs mounted on the outside of the vehicle, announcing
status such as "going now, don't cross" vs. "waiting for you to cross".[72]
Two human-factor challenges are important for safety. One is the handoff from automated driving to
manual driving, which may become necessary due to unfavorable or unusual road conditions, or if
the vehicle has limited capabilities. A sudden handoff could leave a human driver dangerously
unprepared in the moment. In the long term, humans who have less practice at driving might have a
lower skill level and thus be more dangerous in manual mode. The second challenge is known
as risk compensation: as a system is perceived to be safer, instead of benefiting entirely from all of
the increased safety, people engage in riskier behavior and enjoy other benefits. Semi-automated
cars have been shown to suffer from this problem, for example with users of Tesla Autopilotignoring
the road and watching electronic devices against the advice of the company that the car is not
capable of being fully autonomous. In the future, pedestrians and bicyclists may travel in the street in
a riskier fashion if they believe self-driving cars are capable of avoiding them.
In order for people to buy self-driving cars and vote for government to allow them on roads, the
technology must be trusted as safe.[73][74] Self-driving elevators were invented in 1900, but the high
number of people refusing to use them slowed adoption for several decades, until operator strikes
increased demand and trust was built with advertising and features like the emergency stop
button.[75] [76]

Fields of application[edit]
Automated trucks[edit]
Several companies are said to be testing automated technology in semi trucks. Otto, a self-driving
trucking company that was acquired by Uber in August 2016, demonstrated their trucks on the
highway before being acquired.[91] In May 2017, San Francisco-based startup Embark[92] announced a
partnership with truck manufacturer Peterbilt to test and deploy automated technology in Peterbilt's
vehicles.[93] Waymo has also said to be testing automated technology in trucks,[94] however no
timeline has been given for the project.
In March 2018, Starsky Robotics, the San Francisco-based automated truck company, completed a
7-mile (11 km) fully driverless trip in Florida without a single human in the truck. Starsky Robotics
became the first player in the self-driving truck game to drive in fully automated mode on a public
road without a person in the cab.[95]
In Europe, truck platooning is being considered with the Safe Road Trains for the
Environment approach.[citation needed]
Lockheed Martin with funding from the U.S. Army developed an automated truck convoying system
that uses a lead truck operated by a human driver with a number of trucks following
autonomously.[96] Developed as part of the Army's Autonomous Mobility Applique System (AMAS),
the system consists of an automated driving package that has been installed on more than nine
types of vehicles and has completed more than 55,000 hours of driving at speeds up to 64
kilometres per hour (40 mph) as of 2014.[97] As of 2017 the Army was planning to field 100–200
trucks as part of a rapid-fielding program.

Transport systems[edit]
In Europe, cities in Belgium, France, Italy and the UK are planning to operate transport systems for
automated cars,[98][99][100] and Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain have allowed public testing in
traffic. In 2015, the UK launched public trials of the LUTZ Pathfinder automated pod in Milton
Keynes.[101] Beginning in summer 2015, the French government allowed PSA Peugeot-Citroen to
make trials in real conditions in the Paris area. The experiments were planned to be extended to
other cities such as Bordeaux and Strasbourg by 2016.[102] The alliance between French
companies THALES and Valeo (provider of the first self-parking car system that equips Audi and
Mercedes premi) is testing its own system.[103] New Zealand is planning to use automated vehicles
for public transport in Tauranga and Christchurch.[104][105][106][107]
In China, Baidu and King Long produce automated minibus, a vehicle with 14 seats, but without
driving seat. With 100 vehicles produced, 2018 will be the first year with commercial automated
service in China. Those minibuses should be at level 4, that is driverless in closed roads.[108][109]

Potential advantages[edit]
Safety[edit]
Driving safety experts predict that once driverless technology has been fully developed, traffic
collisions (and resulting deaths and injuries and costs), caused by human error, such as
delayed reaction time, tailgating, rubbernecking, and other forms of distracted or aggressive
driving should be substantially reduced.[7][13][14][110] Consulting firm McKinsey & Company estimated
that widespread use of autonomous vehicles could "eliminate 90% of all auto accidents in the United
States, prevent up to US$190 billion in damages and health-costs annually and save thousands of
lives."[111]
According to motorist website "TheDrive.com" operated by Time magazine, none of the driving
safety experts they were able to contact were able to rank driving under an autopilot system at the
time (2017) as having achieved a greater level of safety than traditional fully hands-on driving, so the
degree to which these benefits asserted by proponents will manifest in practice cannot be
assessed.[112] Confounding factors that could reduce the net effect on safety may include unexpected
interactions between humans and partly or fully automated vehicles, or between different types of
vehicle system; complications at the boundaries of functionality at each automation level (such as
handover when the vehicle reaches the limit of its capacity); the effect of the bugs and flaws that
inevitably occur in complex interdependent software systems; sensor or data shortcomings; and
successful compromise by malicious interveners.

Welfare[edit]
Automated cars could reduce labor costs;[113][114] relieve travelers from driving and navigation chores,
thereby replacing behind-the-wheel commuting hours with more time for leisure or work;[7][110]and also
would lift constraints on occupant ability to drive, distracted and texting while driving, intoxicated,
prone to seizures, or otherwise impaired.[115][116][9] For the young, the elderly, people with disabilities,
and low-income citizens, automated cars could provide enhanced mobility.[117][118][119] The removal of
the steering wheel—along with the remaining driver interface and the requirement for any occupant
to assume a forward-facing position—would give the interior of the cabin greater ergonomic
flexibility. Large vehicles, such as motorhomes, would attain appreciably enhanced ease of use.[120]

Traffic[edit]
Additional advantages could include higher speed limits;[121] smoother rides;[122] and increased
roadway capacity; and minimized traffic congestion, due to decreased need for safety gaps and
higher speeds.[123][124] Currently, maximum controlled-access highway throughput or capacity
according to the U.S. Highway Capacity Manual is about 2,200 passenger vehicles per hour per
lane, with about 5% of the available road space is taken up by cars. One study estimated that
automated cars could increase capacity by 273% (~8,200 cars per hour per lane). The study also
estimated that with 100% connected vehicles using vehicle-to-vehicle communication, capacity could
reach 12,000 passenger vehicles per hour (up 545% from 2,200 pc/h per lane) traveling safely at
120 km/h (75 mph) with a following gap of about 6 m (20 ft) of each other. Currently, at highway
speeds drivers keep between 40 to 50 m (130 to 160 ft) away from the car in front. These increases
in highway capacity could have a significant impact in traffic congestion, particularly in urban areas,
and even effectively end highway congestion in some places.[125] The ability for authorities to
manage traffic flow would increase, given the extra data and driving behavior
predictability[8] combined with less need for traffic police and even road signage.

Lower costs[edit]
Safer driving is expected to reduce the costs of vehicle insurance.[113][126]

Energy and environmental impacts[edit]

Vehicle automation can improve fuel economy of the car by optimizing the drive cycle.[10] Reduced
traffic congestion and the improvements in traffic flow due to widespread use of automated cars will
translate into higher fuel efficiency.[127] Additionally, self-driving cars will be able to accelerate and
brake more efficiently, meaning higher fuel economy from reducing wasted energy typically
associated with inefficient changes to speed. However, the improvement in vehicle energy efficiency
does not necessarily translate to net reduction in energy consumption and positive environmental
outcomes. It is expected that convenience of the automated vehicles encourages the consumers to
travel more, and this induced demand may partially or fully offset the fuel efficiency improvement
brought by automation.[10] Overall, the consequences of vehicle automation on global energy demand
and emissions are highly uncertain, and heavily depends on the combined effect of changes in
consumer behavior, policy intervention, technological progress and vehicle technology.[10]

Parking space[edit]
Manually driven vehicles are reported to be used only 4–5% of the time, and being parked and
unused for the remaining 95–96% of the time.[128][129] Autonomous vehicles could, on the other hand,
be used continuously after it has reached its destination. This could dramatically reduce the need
for parking space. For example, in Los Angeles, 14% of the land is used for parking
alone,[130] equivalent to some 17,020,594 square meters.[131] This combined with the potential reduced
need for road space due to improved traffic flow, could free up tremendous amounts of land in urban
areas, which could then be used for parks, recreational areas, buildings, among other uses; making
cities more livable.

Related effects[edit]
By reducing the (labor and other) cost of mobility as a service, automated cars could reduce the
number of cars that are individually owned, replaced by taxi/pooling and other car sharing
services.[132][133] This would also dramatically reduce the size of the automotive production industry,
with corresponding environmental and economic effects. Assuming the increased efficiency is not
fully offset by increases in demand, more efficient traffic flow could free roadway space for other
uses such as better support for pedestrians and cyclists.
The vehicles' increased awareness could aid the police by reporting on illegal passenger behavior,
while possibly enabling other crimes, such as deliberately crashing into another vehicle or a
pedestrian.[12] However, this may also lead to much expanded mass surveillance if there is wide
access granted to third parties to the large data sets generated.
The future of passenger rail transport in the era of automated cars is not clear.[134]

Potential limits or obstacles[edit]

The sort of hoped-for potential benefits from increased vehicle automation described may be limited
by foreseeable challenges, such as disputes over liability (will each company operating a vehicle
accept that they are its "driver" and thus responsible for what their car does, or will some try to
project this liability onto others who are not in control?),[16][17] the time needed to turn over the existing
stock of vehicles from non-automated to automated,[135] and thus a long period of humans and
autonomous vehicles sharing the roads, resistance by individuals to having to forfeit control of their
cars,[136] concerns about the safety of driverless in practice,[15] and the implementation of a legal
framework and consistent global government regulations for self-driving cars.[137] Other obstacles
could include de-skilling and lower levels of driver experience for dealing with potentially dangerous
situations and anomalies,[138] ethical problems where an automated vehicle's software is forced
during an unavoidable crash to choose between multiple harmful courses of action ('the trolley
problem'),[139][140][141] concerns about making large numbers of people currently employed as drivers
unemployed (at the same time as many other alternate blue collar occupations may be undermined
by automation), the potential for more intrusive mass surveillance of location, association and travel
as a result of police and intelligence agency access to large data sets generated by sensors and
pattern-recognition AI (making anonymous travel difficult), and possibly insufficient understanding of
verbal sounds, gestures and non-verbal cues by police, other drivers or pedestrians.[142]
Possible technological obstacles for automated cars are:

 Artificial Intelligence is still not able to function properly in chaotic inner-city environments.[143]
 A car's computer could potentially be compromised, as could a communication system between
cars.[144][145][146][147][148]
 Susceptibility of the car's sensing and navigation systems to different types of weather (such as
snow) or deliberate interference, including jamming and spoofing.[142]
 Avoidance of large animals requires recognition and tracking, and Volvo found that software
suited to caribou, deer, and elk was ineffective with kangaroos.[149]
 Autonomous cars may require very high-quality specialised maps[150] to operate properly. Where
these maps may be out of date, they would need to be able to fall back to reasonable
behaviors.[142][151]
 Competition for the radio spectrum desired for the car's communication.[152]
 Field programmability for the systems will require careful evaluation of product development and
the component supply chain.[148]
 Current road infrastructure may need changes for automated cars to function optimally.[153]
Social challenges include:

 Government over-regulation, or even uncertainty about potential future regulation, may delay
deployment of automated cars on the road.[154]
 Employment – Companies working on the technology have an increasing recruitment problem in
that the available talent pool has not grown with demand.[155] As such, education and training by
third party organisations such as providers of online courses and self-taught community-driven
projects such as DIY Robocars[156] and Formula Pi have quickly grown in popularity, while
university level extra-curricular programmes such as Formula Student Driverless[157] have
bolstered graduate experience. Industry is steadily increasing freely available information
sources, such as code,[158] datasets[159] and glossaries[160] to widen the recruitment pool.

Potential disadvantages[edit]
See also: Computer security § Automobiles
A direct impact of widespread adoption of automated vehicles is the loss of driving-related jobs in the
road transport industry.[113][114][161] There could be resistance from professional drivers and unions who
are threatened by job losses.[162] In addition, there could be job losses in public transit services and
crash repair shops. The automobile insurance industry might suffer as the technology makes certain
aspects of these occupations obsolete.[119] A frequently cited paper by Michael Osborne and Carl
Benedikt Frey found that automated cars would make many jobs redundant.[163]
Privacy could be an issue when having the vehicle's location and position integrated into an interface
in which other people have access to.[164] In addition, there is the risk of automotive hackingthrough
the sharing of information through V2V (Vehicle to Vehicle) and V2I (Vehicle to Infrastructure)
protocols.[165][166][167] There is also the risk of terrorist attacks. Self-driving cars could potentially be
loaded with explosives and used as bombs.[168]
The lack of stressful driving, more productive time during the trip, and the potential savings in travel
time and cost could become an incentive to live far away from cities, where land is cheaper, and
work in the city's core, thus increasing travel distances and inducing more urban sprawl, more fuel
consumption and an increase in the carbon footprint of urban travel.[10][169][170] There is also the risk
that traffic congestion might increase, rather than decrease.[10][119] Appropriate public policies and
regulations, such as zoning, pricing, and urban design are required to avoid the negative impacts of
increased suburbanization and longer distance travel.[119][170]
Some believe that once automation in vehicles reaches higher levels and becomes reliable, drivers
will pay less attention to the road.[171] Research shows that drivers in automated cars react later when
they have to intervene in a critical situation, compared to if they were driving manually.[172] Depending
on the capabilities of automated vehicles and the frequency with which human intervention is
needed, this may counteract any increase in safety, as compared to all-human driving, that may be
delivered by other factors.
Ethical and moral reasoning come into consideration when programming the software that decides
what action the car takes in an unavoidable crash; whether the automated car will crash into a bus,
potentially killing people inside; or swerve elsewhere, potentially killing its own passengers or nearby
pedestrians.[173] A question that programmers of AI systems find difficult to answer (as do ordinary
people, and ethicists) is "what decision should the car make that causes the ‘smallest’ damage to
people's lives?" One proposed solution is the implementation of ethics bots in self-driving vehicles,
which learn from user preferences to ultimately guide autonomous instruments in accordance with
the owner's values and preferences.[174]
The ethics of automated vehicles are still being articulated, and may lead to controversy.[175] They
may also require closer consideration of the variability, context-dependency, complexity and non-
deterministic nature of human ethics. Different human drivers make various ethical decisions when
driving, such as avoiding harm to themselves, or putting themselves at risk to protect others. These
decisions range from rare extremes such as self-sacrifice or criminal negligence, to routine decisions
good enough to keep the traffic flowing but bad enough to cause accidents, road rage and stress.
Human thought and reaction time may sometimes be too slow to detect the risk of an upcoming fatal
crash, think through the ethical implications of the available options, or take an action to implement
an ethical choice. Whether a particular automated vehicle's capacity to correctly detect an upcoming
risk, analyse the options or choose a 'good' option from among bad choices would be as good or
better than a particular human's may be difficult to predict or assess. This difficulty may be in part
because the level of automated vehicle system understanding of the ethical issues at play in a given
road scenario, sensed for an instant from out of a continuous stream of synthetic physical
predictions of the near future, and dependent on layers of pattern recognition and situational
intelligence, may be opaque to human inspection because of its origins in probabilistic machine
learning rather than a simple, plain English 'human values' logic of parsable rules. The depth of
understanding, predictive power and ethical sophistication needed will be hard to implement, and
even harder to test or assess.
The scale of this challenge may have other effects. There may be few entities able to marshal the
resources and AI capacity necessary to meet it, as well as the capital necessary to take an
automated vehicle system to market and sustain it operationally for the life of a vehicle, and the legal
and 'government affairs' capacity to deal with the potential for liability for a significant proportion of
traffic accidents. This may have the effect of narrowing the number of different system opertors, and
eroding the presently quite diverse global vehicle market down to a small number of system
suppliers.

Potential changes for different industries[edit]

The traditional automobile industry is subject to changes driven by technology and market demands.
These changes include breakthrough technological advances and when the market demands and
adopts new technology quickly. In the rapid advance of both factors, the end of the era of
incremental change was recognized. When the transition is made to a new technology, new entrants
to the automotive industry present themselves, which can be distinguished as mobility providers
such as Uber and Lyft, as well as tech giants such as Google and nVidia. As new entrants to the
industry arise, market uncertainty naturally occurs due to the changing dynamics. For example, the
entrance of tech giants, as well as the alliances between them and traditional car manufacturers
causes a variation in the innovation and production process of autonomous vehicles. Additionally,
the entrance of mobility providers has caused ambiguous user preferences. As a result of the rise of
mobility providers, the number of vehicles per capita has flatlined. In addition, the rise of the sharing
economy also contributes to market uncertainty and causes forecasters to question whether private
ownership of vehicles is still relevant as new transportation technology and mobility providers are
becoming preferred among consumers.

Taxis[edit]
With the aforementioned ambiguous user preference regarding the private ownership of autonomous
vehicles, it is possible that the current mobility provider trend will continue as it rises in popularity.
Established providers such as Uber and Lyft are already significantly present within the industry, and
it is likely that new entrants will enter when business opportunities arise.[176]

Healthcare, car repair, and car insurance[edit]

With the increasing reliance of autonomous vehicles on interconnectivity and the availability of big
data which is made usable in the form of real time maps, driving decisions can be made much faster
in order to prevent collisions. Numbers made available by the US government state that 94% of the
vehicle accidents are due to human failures. As a result, major implications for the healthcare
industry become apparent. Numbers from the National Safety Council on killed and injured people
on U.S. roads multiplied by the average costs of a single incident reveal that an estimated 500-
billion-dollar loss may be imminent for the US healthcare industry when autonomous vehicles are
dominating the roads. It is likely the anticipated decrease in traffic accidents will positively contribute
to the widespread acceptance of autonomous vehicles, as well as the possibility to better allocate
healthcare resources. As collisions are less likely to occur, and the risk for human errors is reduced
significantly, the repair industry will face an enormous reduction of work that has to be done on the
reparation of car frames. Meanwhile, as the generated data of the autonomous vehicle is likely to
predict when certain replaceable parts are in need of maintenance, car owners and the repair
industry will be able to proactively replace a part that will fail soon. This ‘Asset Efficiency Service’
would implicate a productivity gain for the automotive repair industry. As fewer collisions implicate
less money spent on repair costs, the role of the insurance industry is likely to be altered as well. It
can be expected that the increased safety of transport due to autonomous vehicles will lead to a
decrease in payouts for the insurers, which is positive for the industry, but fewer payouts may imply
a demand drop for insurances in general. The insurance industry may have to create new insurance
models in the near future to accommodate the changes. An unexpected disadvantage of the
widespread acceptance of autonomous vehicles would be a reduction in organs available for
transplant.[177]

Rescue, emergency response, and military[edit]

The technique used in autonomous driving also ensures life savings in other industries. The
implementation of autonomous vehicles with rescue, emergency response, and military applications
has already led to a decrease in deaths.[citation needed] Military personnel use autonomous vehicles to
reach dangerous and remote places on earth to deliver fuel, food and general supplies, and even
rescue people. In addition, a future implication of adopting autonomous vehicles could lead to a
reduction in deployed personnel, which will lead to a decrease in injuries, since the technological
development allows Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) to become more and more autonomous. Another
future implication is the reduction of emergency drivers when autonomous vehicles are deployed as
fire trucks or ambulances. An advantage could be the use of real-time traffic information and other
generated data to determine and execute routes more efficiently than human drivers. The time
savings can be invaluable in these situations.[178]

Interior design and entertainment[edit]

For the interior design industry, there are exciting times ahead. The driver is decreasingly focused
on the actual driving, this implies that the interior design- and media-entertainment industry has to
reconsider what passengers of autonomous vehicles are doing when they are on the road. Vehicles
need to be redesigned, and possibly even be prepared for multipurpose usage. In practice, it will
show that travelers have more time for business and/or leisure. In both cases, this gives increasing
opportunities for the media-entertainment industry to demand attention. Moreover, the advertisement
business is able to provide location based ads without risking driver safety.[179]

Telecommunication and energy[edit]

As autonomous vehicles are producing enormous amounts of data that need to be transferred and
analyzed, the upcoming 5G cellular network will play a pivotal role in doing so. In addition, the earlier
mentioned entertainment industry is also highly dependent on this network to be active in this market
segment. This implies higher revenues for the telecommunication industry.
Since many autonomous vehicles are going to rely on electricity to operate, the demand for lithium
batteries increases. Similarly, radar, sensors, lidar, and high-speed internet connectivity require
higher auxiliary power from vehicles, which manifests as greater power draw from batteries.[10] The
larger battery requirement causes a necessary increase in supply of these type of batteries for the
chemical industry. On the other hand, with the expected increase of battery powered (autonomous)
vehicles, the petroleum industry is expected to undergo a decline in demand. As this implication
depends on the adoption rate of autonomous vehicles, it is unsure to what extent this implication will
disrupt this particular industry. This transition phase of oil to electricity allows companies to explore
whether there are business opportunities for them in the new energy ecosystem.

Restaurant, hotels, and airlines[edit]

Driver interactions with the vehicle will be less common within the near future, and in the more
distant future the responsibility will lie entirely with the vehicle. As indicated above, this will have
implications for the entertainment- and interior design industry. For roadside restaurants, the
implication will be that the need for customers to stop driving and enter the restaurant will vanish,
and the autonomous vehicle will have a double function. Moreover, accompanied with the rise of
disruptive platforms such as Airbnb that have shaken up the hotel industry, the fast increase of
developments within the autonomous vehicle industry might cause another implication for their
customer bases. In the more distant future, the implication for motels might be that a decrease in
guests will occur, since autonomous vehicles could be redesigned as fully equipped bedrooms. The
improvements regarding the interior of the vehicles might additionally have implications for the airline
industry. In the case of relatively short-haul flights, waiting times at customs or the gate imply lost
time and hassle for customers. With the improved convenience in future car travel, it is possible that
customers might go for this option, causing a loss in customer bases for airline industry.[180]

Elderly, disabled, and children[edit]

Autonomous vehicles will have a severe impact on the mobility options of persons that are not able
to drive a vehicle themselves. To remain socially engaged with society or even able to do groceries,
the elderly people of today are depending on caretakers to drive them to these places. In addition to
the perceived freedom of the elderly people of the future, the demand for human aides will decrease.
When we also consider the increased health of the elderly, it is safe to state that care centers will
experience a decrease in the number of clients. Not only elderly people face difficulties of their
decreased physical abilities, also disabled people will perceive the benefits of autonomous vehicles
in the near future, causing their dependency on caretakers to decrease. Both industries are largely
depending on informal caregivers, who are mostly relatives of the persons in need. Since there is
less of a reliance on their time, employers of informal caregivers or even governments will
experience a decrease of costs allocated to this matter. Children and teens, who are not able to
drive a vehicle themselves, are also benefiting of the introduction of autonomous cars. Daycares and
schools are able to come up with automated pick up and drop off systems, causing a decrease of
reliance on parents and childcare workers. The extent to which human actions are necessary for
driving will vanish. Since current vehicles require human actions to some extent, the driving school
industry will not be disrupted until the majority of autonomous transportation is switched to the
emerged dominant design. It is plausible that in the distant future driving a vehicle will be considered
as a luxury, which implies that the structure of the industry is based on new entrants and a new
market.[181]