Automotive solutions and artificial Intelligence evolution at its forefront are continuously improving at a steady pace. Automotive solutions in cars are rapidly evolving and becoming more and more common among cars on some level.
With the demands of cars increasing day by day the traffic on roads is also increasing. It naturally increases by reducing accidents and energy consumption due to the traffic and emissions from these cars.
Automotive solutions with Artificial Intelligence (AI) at its core are emerging as one of the promising solutions to all these problems spanning across different domains of environmental, social, and economic issues.
An automotive car is an automated or self-driving car generally equipped with technologies that enable the vehicle to detect and analyze its surroundings to either assist the human driver or even drive the car all by itself.
Furthermore, different advanced technologies and AI are used to make various decisions and actions regarding automotive solutions like acceleration, steering wheel control, deacceleration, lane change, parking, etc. Thus, it is either easy for the driver or for the automotive system itself.
The rapid progress on automotive solutions and cars will enable a future with no human drivers, only self-driving vehicles that would drive humans instead of humans driving them. However, to reach this future, the automotive solution for cars would have to be safe enough to be widely adopted and trusted.
Today’s Automotive Solutions
Today, in some cars, the car warns the driver of high speeds, unsafe lane changes, warns drivers of vehicles behind or ahead of the car, and assists the driver with navigation and braking. One of the most famous examples of automotive cars is Tesla.
Tesla employs what it calls an Autopilot system to enable these functions. In addition, Tesla promises a fully self-driving car soon with a fully automotive car capable of driving itself without needing any human assistance.
Similarly, several Electric Cars (EVs) offer automotive solutions with autonomy that assists the driver. However, fully automotive cars are yet to hit the market. The autonomy of a car is divided into 6 categories according to the features and level of autonomy provided.
Starting from level 0 with no automation solution of any kind to full automation in level 5, the level of independence reached by Tela can be classified as a level 2 autonomy where the car has combined automotive solutions like steering wheel control, acceleration, braking, lane change but the human driver must be engaged at all times with the vehicle during the driving.
Level 0 automotive cars have no automation whatsoever. Level 1 has features that can be of assistance to the driver during driving of the car. Level 2 is partial automation with combined automation features but requires human drivers to be present at all times.
Level 3 is conditional automation, with drivers required to monitor the car but not necessarily drive the car except when needed. High automation on level 4 offers complete automotive solutions on specific conditions and may have the option to be drivable by humans. Finally, level 5 is the highest level of automation, i.e., a Full automotive solution with the car capable of autonomously driving under all conditions and requires no human interventions.
Benefits from Automotive Cars
Safety is one of the top priorities when building an automotive car solution. When all cars are fully automated, the capability of total automotive traffic offers massive protection and managed traffic benefits.
In addition, the fact that 94% of all accidents occur due to human error shows that drivers are the most dangerous factor in traffic. So, with automotive solutions in the equation, such systems can decrease accidents and increase road safety by a considerable margin. It is paramount in today’s world, where almost 35 thousand people die in car crashes across the United States in a year.
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Apart from this, automotive cars also offer economic benefits and benefits related to the quality of life. Since automotive vehicles can reduce car accidents, they also reduce costs associated with and occurred due to car crashes.
In 2010, NHTSA estimated that almost 242 billion dollars of economic activity went into loss due to car crashes and 57 billion dollars worth of productivity lost. However, one of the most crucial financial losses comes from the loss of life and quality of life and injuries related to accidents, with figures amounting to almost 594 billion dollars.
Alongside this, fully autonomous traffic with automotive solutions could also offer smooth & managed traffic flow benefits. Due to this, the traffic times to commute from different places may reduce drastically while cutting the time that would have been spent on other productive or meaningful activities. Studies even show up to 50 minutes of reduced driving each day if the traffic has a complete automation solution.
Additionally, people who cannot drive and commute may commute to different places due to automotive cars. Apart from this, managed traffic also reduces traffic time resulting in less environmental pollution and loss of resources.
Moreover, commute with automotive solution systems may enable millions of people to commute more efficiently, eventually improving a whole country’s economy due to efficient travel being possible.
Dangers from Automotive Cars
Today no car in the market supports a complete automotive solution. Some newer cars provide automation up to level 1 or 2. But since vehicles with this level of automotive solution always require human attention and engagement, their dangers cannot be easily identified. Moreover, automotive cars are still in the early phase of development. It means that more development and tests should be conducted to assess them properly.
One of the significant safety concerns related to automotive cars is the failure of the AI system responsible for the car’s autonomy. Although these failures can also be addressed with individual fallback plans for different actions performed by the car, it remains one of the top concerns.
However, the safety of an automotive car largely depends upon its level of automotive solution and control over the car. Hence, all car components must be working well in conjunction with the system providing automotive solutions to ensure that AV functions without errors.
Accidents related to automotive cars are scarce but are usually blown out of proportion even if the accident was caused due to human error. However, mistakes may happen in automotive cars since self-driving technology is not yet mature enough and will require human supervision at all times during its use.
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One of the common errors that can occur in automotive cars is perception error. When the layer of system responsible for acquiring real-time data from multiple preceptory sensors fails, the automotive solution system automatically fails due to its inability to collect data.
In worse cases, if such real-time data becomes corrupted, the automotive system may even make wrong decisions. It is another significant danger in an automotive car. If the decision-making process in any automotive vehicle fails, the AI system may make bad decisions concerning the corrupted process.
Another significant danger involved in automotive cars is in their ability to perform specific actions. For instance, if an automotive solution system cannot apply brakes on the vehicle due to some error or restrictions, it will not stop the car even if it detects any error.
Similarly, failure in actuators systems, control systems, powertrain systems, etc., may lead to losses in automotive solutions. Hence it is imperative to test automotive cars in different scenarios and failure points.
Ironically, one of the significant dangers of automotive cars comes due to other drivers. According to the State of California Department of Motor Cars, most accident cases of automotive vehicles are caused due to other drivers and their reckless driving. Human driving dangers like drunk driving, road rage, reckless drivers, and angry or enraged pedestrians & drivers are enough to confuse even the most experienced human drivers.
So it’s relatively easy for automotive cars not to handle such complicated situations by themselves. It is especially true since automotive vehicles are fully developed, implemented, and adopted with complete automotive solutions across all roads and traffic.
Conclusion
Automotive solutions and automotive cars are a relatively new technology that is still being worked on. It’s an immature technology that is still developing, albeit it is progressing very rapidly.
Automotive solutions in cars will bring a new paradigm shift in traffic and commute systems, with various benefits like reduced traffic accidents, increased effectiveness in economic and environmental aspects related to traffic, increased quality of life, and improved general commute among ordinary people.
However, since the level of safety on automotive cars largely depends upon the level of automotive solution on the car, it is still early to determine if the technology of automotive solution concerns safe or not.
Although fully automotive solutions promise unparalleled safety along with economic and social benefits, it still has a long way to go until it replaces existing human drivers.
