In the year 2013, there were 1.25 million road accidents worldwide. Every year roughly around 1.3 million people die due to fatal car accidents. It is estimated that by the year 2030, road accidents would be the fifth leading cause of human deaths. In all of these cases, these accidents are due to human error by one or more parties involved.
This is the reason why self driving car was introduced by Google. The main objective of Google self driving car is to reduce the accidents and ensure road safety. We as human beings rely on our eyes to which whatever comes in our sight is believed. Now there are certain scenarios while driving in the highway or a steep slope when some of the objects don’t appear and all of a sudden the vehicle collides. While you drive your car in a hilly area you don’t recognize any other vehicle coming towards you because of the spiral roads but it does many times. Roads too contain hurdles like speed breaker, uneven holes, animals, etc. that are not seen from far away distance.
Google self driving car can detect many objects through classification based on shape, size and the movement pattern. Therefore, whether it is a next car standing besides, a cyclist or a pedestrian the car will detect them all. The software fitted inside it detects what would the particular object might do next. Since the pedestrian and the cyclist tend to move on their way the Google car will slow down its speed. This self driving car is also capable to navigate through so many complex streets and is aware of the exact location wherever it goes. The self driving cars have the ability to learn from the existing cars and it has now gained 40 years of real-time driving experience. This vehicle totally works on the battery and does not cross the speed limit of 25 km/h at present. The accelerator, steering and brakes are based on software that acts as per the instructions by the sensors.
The interiors of Google self driving car do not involve the traditional steering, accelerator, brakes, etc. Inspite of that the user will experience a kind of ride without a driver. The objects in the surroundings are detected by the lasers, cameras and radars together that make aware of the slightest change in the movement of any near or far away object(s). The sensor is kept on the car’s head and is round in shape in order to maximize the field of vie
But as it said ‘Nothing is perfect’! Google car too has its flaws and is not perfect currently. It cannot be rode during snowfall and rainfall. A few states like California and Nevada have licensed and allowed the car to use as public vehicle. There are cases of its collision, out of which one collision involved injury. The Google takes partial responsibility and also states that the most accidents were due to human errors of the opposite party. The bugs are estimated to be fixed by the year 2020 and 10 million self driving cars would be on the road. At present the car is not affordable to a common person and comes under luxurious category because of the recent invention, but with time the cost would drop decade after decade. In the year 2040, an individual wouldn’t require a driver’s license since only automatic cars would be there. Isn’t that cool!