What Is A Self-Driving Car?
A vehicle that can operate without human assistance is known as self-driving car. The technologies in these cars can navigate traffic and create an image of their surroundings. It can also be called as an autonomous car, a driverless car, or robot car.
It has five levels of automation described below:
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Level 0 – No Driving Automation:
For operating the vehicle, a human driver is responsible. The system send alerts of perceived danger to warn the driver.
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Level 1 – Driving Assistance:
A driving task is performed by an Automated Driving System (ADS) which assists the human driver. ADS cannot do the task of steering the wheel or controlling the driving speed simultaneously.
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Level 2 – Partial Driving Automation:
To operate the car, the responsibility is shared between a human driver and one or more ADS features. The performance of the ADS is monitored by the driver while it is simultaneously controlling the driving speed and steering the wheel.
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Level 3 – Conditional Driving Automation:
Driving the car and monitoring the environment is done by the ADS . To respond to any ADS request and intervene, the human driver need to remain in the driver’s seat but are free to take their eyes off the road.
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Level 4 – Highly Automated Driving:
The ADS doesn’t require human intervention to drive the car and monitor the environment. The ADS at this level is limited to geofenced areas or traffic jams.
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Level 5- Complete Automation:
At this level, the car is fully autonomous and can drive on roads without any human intervention.
Benefits of Self-Driving Cars
The three main benefits of self-driving cars are here.
1. Less Traffic
“World’s Most Congested Country” title is in lead with Thailand while U.S. is ranked as the fifth most congested country in a research by INRIX. An average of 41 hours a year is spend in traffic jams by the drivers of U.S.. A solution to clogged roads is the technology of self-driving car.
2. Reduced Emissions
30% of all U.S. global warming emissions is produced by the US transportation sector. Braking and re-accelerating, excessive speed also contribute to pollution.
The pollution emitted by vehicles is reduced by self-driving cars. Unnecessary braking and re-acceleration is reduced by autonomous capabilities like consistent driving speeds.
3. Road Safety
1.25 million deaths and 20-50 million injuries are the result of road accidents. By 2030, the fifth leading cause of death injuries will be road traffic injuries if nothing changes.
A solution to road accidents is the self-driving cars. The cause of almost 90% of traffic accidents is human error. So, road safety can be increased by delegating vehicle operating responsibilities to the ADS.
