From horses to horsepower is a huge transition that we have seen in decades of automobile industry. Today automobile industry has way beyond just electric cars by self-driving cars are something that we may get to see on the roads soon. From radio controlled driverless cars of the early 1920’s to today’s autonomous cars by General Motors, Ford, Mercedes, Nissan, BMW and many other, the invention to new projects and ideas have been immense. With respect to the Gartner’s Hype cycle we could say we are at the pre-peak of the Inflated expectations stage. Autonomous cars can fall in two categories, first being something that evolution of vehicles brought in; e.g. Tesla’s autopilot mode. Second being Google’s/ Uber’s …show more content…
to gather as much as data as possible about weather, streets, pedestrians and about fast/slow to drive at night/day. Not just roads and weather but automobile industry is working on data like light detection sensors, cameras, GPS and how all these components can converge together make the drive as safe as possible. The testing maybe slow but from simulated environments the gradual change to small cities is happening at present. The NHTSA is also working towards guidelines on how to deploy autonomous technology on road. If state and federal regulations give a green signal, then probably commercial trucks could be the first to hit the road.
By 2020’s cars should be equipped to drive themselves, but they may require a human to sit in front in case of an emergency. Tesla claims that by early 2020 their self-driving car should be ready to hit the road. Uber is already working on their autonomous vehicle technology and they should be expected to have their services ready in small regions or campuses with highly equipped maps. Urban planning of roads and highways will also be required to accommodate the autonomous cars and mass transits. Insurance companies will also be set to work to create new rules and