The Innovation Of Autonomous Cars

Technology has advanced by leaps and bounds to the point where they no longer want or allow us to drive. They have begun to show us cars that park alone and we already know that the arrival of autonomous cars – the ones that will drive for us – is imminent. This news has been well received by many, but for those of us who love to be behind the wheel it has not been so pleasant.

The reality of autonomous cars

Although  we have only heard about them, and this may lead us to think that it is a goal that will be achieved in the long term, nothing is further from reality. Self-driving cars are real and are already being tested and working to achieve the best results.

For example, at the CES Fair in Las Vegas, where the latest technological advances are presented, it is believed that in 2018 the main protagonists will be autonomous cars. In fact, the Lyft company, very similar to Uber, has already connected this fair with 20 different destinations through these driverless cars.

Waymo and General Motors bet heavily on this initiative and have already been testing an autonomous taxi service for more than a year, which is obtaining excellent results.

Not to mention the global tech giant. Tesla promises that in this year 2018 it will make the first trip of a car without a driver from the east coast to the west coast of the United States, an insurmountable challenge! Tesla always sets precedents and trends, and in the field of autonomous cars it does not want to be less.

In Spain, for example, Orange and SEAT have forged an agreement to merge their best tools and create an autonomous car thanks to connectivity and communication, aspects that are considered essential to achieve success in this type of vehicle.

You see that this is a reality that will soon come into our lives and that, therefore, we should not take for granted.

Why the idea of ​​autonomous cars

But why did this idea arise?  The first reason is because it is believed that these vehicles can reduce road accidents by 57% and therefore save lives. With the passage of time, the phrase that “machines fail too” has been forgotten and, every time, we trust them more. Autonomous cars are one example of this.

The designers and creators of this car have clung to the idea that a machine does not fatigue, does not need to sleep and will not make mistakes due to lack of reflections or vision, among others. But are machines really safer than people?

According to traffic data, 90% of accidents that occur every day are caused by failures at the wheel, failures that machines are not expected to make. In the United States, tests are being carried out to show that these cars are more reliable when it comes to avoiding accidents and, although there are not many results that we know of yet, everything seems to indicate that they are favorable towards autonomous cars.

It is true that cars do not go through situations like people, such as getting tired, angry or drunk, but they are not prepared, at least for the moment, to react to uncertainty or other situations that require a quick reaction capacity.

On the other hand, autonomous cars have a big disadvantage: new technology. Over the years, and with the creation of new car models, it has been understood what is going well or badly or what can be improved so that there is no problem or another.

Now, with the arrival of autonomous cars,  a new technology arrives that will present new problems that we will have to learn to solve and that can lead us to lose a lot of money; because gentlemen, machines are wrong, right?