Sponsored by Roborace
Transcript:
Right now, one of the most impactful up-and-coming technologies is self-driving cars. In fact, one of the main reasons I bought my Tesla Model 3 was because of its self-driving potential. In this video I’ll explain the basics of self driving cars, why the world needs them, and how one self driving car in particular is putting its own spin on an entire industry.
A self-driving vehicle, also referred to as fully-autonomous, is one that does not need human intervention of any kind and is completely controlled by some combination of computer software, hardware, radars, sensors, and cameras. It’s estimated by the year 2030 there will be approximately 380 million partially or fully autonomous vehicles on the roads. Elon Musk claims that within a decade, self-driving cars will be as common as elevators. But that’s pretty much expected from a guy who likes to take things to the next level. To better understand how self-driving vehicles will eventually take over all roadways, let’s briefly go over the 6 autonomy levels.
Level 0 is No Automation. This is when a human driver is solely responsible for operating the vehicle at all times. Most cars up to the recent past are level 0.
Level 1 is Driver Assistance meaning in certain driving modes, the car can either take control of the steering wheel or the pedals. However, the computer is never in control of both. Some examples are adaptive cruise control and parking assist.
Level 2 is Partial Automation which means the car can take over both the pedals AND the wheel, but only under certain conditions, and the driver must maintain ultimate control over the vehicle. An example of Level 2 is Tesla’s Autopilot.
Level 3 is Conditional Automation where the car can fully take over the driving responsibilities under certain conditions, but a driver is expected to retake control when the system asks for it. A Level 3 car can decide when to change lanes and how to respond to incidents on the road but uses a human as the fallback system.
Level 4 is High Automation where the car can be driven by a human, but it doesn’t ever need to be. It can drive itself full time under the right circumstances, and if it encounters something it can’t handle, it can ask for human assistance but will park itself and bring its passengers to safety if human help is not available. Level 4 is the first level that is truly self-driving. An example of this is the Google Waymo car.
And finally, Level 5 is Full Automation where a steering wheel is optional. At this level, the front seats might face backwards because the car doesn’t need any type of human intervention. The computer has full-time automation of all driving tasks on any road, under any conditions, whether there’s a human present or not.
Now that you know the different levels of self-driving vehicles, the big question is: Why does the world need them? Our first and most important reason for adopting self driving cars is safety.
According to Waymo, over 1.2 million people die on roadways each year. In the US alone, traffic collisions result in over 35,000 deaths per year, and 94% of US crashes involve human error. Mature digital systems in self-driving cars are designed and expected to be exponentially safer than human drivers. Self-driving vehicles won’t make the typical human mistakes like falling asleep at the wheel, driving drunk, having road rage, or texting while driving. A self-driving car will be able to make instant decisions based on not only calculations from its internal system, but all self driving cars will eventually be connected to each other sharing real-time data so if one car detects an object in the road, it will immediately share that alert with all other cars.
Another main benefit of self driving cars is savings & convenience. According to a study, Americans spent an estimated 6.9 billion hours in traffic delays in 2014. When self-driving cars are sharing real-time data about the traveling conditions and they are programmed to see and detect everything around them, there should be a big decrease in traffic congestion and wasted time. Self-driving cars will also give the elderly and disabled a huge amount of freedom to travel. In many places, employment relies on the ability to drive. One study suggests that self-driving vehicles could create new employment opportunities for approximately 2 million people with disabilities. Autonomous vehicles can also lead to saving money because owning your own vehicle won’t be necessary for many people when self driving cars will be constantly available for picking up and dropping off. An example of this is Tesla’s future Robo taxi service. Fewer accidents will also lead to saving on insurance costs.
Now that you know the biggest benefits of self driving cars, how do we get them here as soon as possible? Well, the best way is to support the advancement of self-driving technology. Some people, like me, do this by buying a Tesla. But not everyone has to do that. In fact, there’s a funner, easier way. It’s called Roborace, and it’s the world’s first racing series for humans and artificial intelligence. Roborace is similar to Tesla in that they’re trying to give the world a better future by making it exciting right now.
For example, Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy and they’re trying to achieve that by selling cool, fast electric cars. Roborace’s mission is to accelerate the development of fully autonomous vehicle technology and they’re trying to achieve that through gamification of driverless electric race cars. It’s similar to how car manufacturers in the past helped advance automobile technology like when Jaguar developed disc brakes for their racing cars in the 50s, they were so successful that they quickly attained mass widespread adoption which is what Roborace wants to do with self driving technology.
I do love how futuristic my Tesla Model 3 is, but do you remember the car from the movie Tron: Legacy? Well, the designer of that car, Daniel Simon, actually designed the world’s first fully autonomous self-driving race car specifically for Roborace called Robocar. It’s pretty much the closest thing you’ll get to a real life Tron car, but the best part is Robocar doesn’t need a human driver. In fact there’s no place for one on the Robocar. Remember autonomy level 5 and how a steering wheel is optional? Well, Robocar is actually level 5 ready right now. In fact, it utilizes slightly more technology for its self driving than Teslas do, mostly through a combination of lidar, radar, GPS, ultrasonic sensors, and machine vision cameras. All that data is processed by the onboard computer then the AI software determines how the car should drive itself. Not only is it designed for autonomy and aerodynamics with its teardrop shaped chassis, it’s also incredibly powerful mostly because of its 4 independent electric motors (which is actually 1 more motor than the 2020 Tesla Roadster has, and we know how powerful that will be)
By mixing the intensity of fast car racing with self-driving technology, Roborace’s goal is to provide a unique experience to viewers while simultaneously progressing toward the world’s adoption of full self driving technology in hopes for improved road safety for the future. So if you’re a supporter of Tesla you’ll love what Roborace is doing. This year is Season Alpha, and it’s the first time Roborace will have teams competing against one another at events all around the world. Each team will have access to the same hardware, which is a fully electric car called DevBot 2.0, that can be driven by a human or AI driver. This means the only differentiator is the AI driver software that the teams develop for the competition. Season Alpha aims to experiment with different formats and challenges that will push the skills of the teams and will be a sight to see for fans of electric cars and self-driving technology. If you’d like to learn more about Roborace and stay up to date on their upcoming events, check out the link in the description below.
I hope this video helped you learn more about how self driving cars will change the world for the better. It’s certainly an exciting time we’re in right now seeing all this cool tech coming to cars.