The debate on driverless cars has quickly moved to whether they can become a reality to when they will be available. The tech allows cities and transportation to be organized in an entirely new and revolutionary way. Companies like Google, Apple, and Tesla are in the race to develop automatic driving systems.
The main problem is that AI still has challenges solving real-life situations such as navigating the traffic with a high level of reliability and precision. There is a need for significant training data to teach the system good driving habits. Another challenge is that machine learning systems may not be proficient in handling vast amounts of data.
The same case applies with very little data. Admittedly, collecting data to use in self-driving systems is not cheap. Furthermore, many events such as witnessing an accident and encountering a particular type of debris are rare, and the car can be out of its depth. However, Waymo cars have indicated some progress, even though it’s little.
Tesla Model 3 as a Driverless Car
No doubt, Tesla Model 3 is subject to many headlines discussing its quality ride. But part of the appeal is its connectivity and self-driving tech. It comes equipped with the necessary tech such as cameras, sensors, and the autopilot system that retails at a whopping $5000. But the autopilot is not a system that converts model 3 into a fully autonomous car.
Even with the driving automation on, you as the driver will still need to be actively engaged. NTSB says that the system does not incorporate safeguards to limit its use to the conditions in which the autopilot was designed. There is still some legwork needed to achieve a fully driverless car.
According to the president of AEye, Blair LaCorte, The industry has spent up to $100 billion In the past half-decade developing driverless cars. The Silicon Valley expert estimates that a fully autonomous vehicle is about three years away, maybe sooner.
