How will autonomous vehicles shape the future of transportation?

Technological advances have continued to shape the way people get from place to place, from the invention of the steam locomotive to the automobile and the airplane. The implementation of computers in these transportation systems have continuously improved the comfort, efficiency, and efficacy of transportation with new advances in computer technologies. Technology is advancing faster than ever before and an increasing interest from massive car companies, like Tesla, General Motors, and Volkswagen, has seen the development of many different semi autonomous cars available for purchase at the moment. Autonomous vehicles are vehicles that are able to operate without the guidance of a person navigating through sensors and a computer. It is only a matter of time before fully autonomous vehicles are being used in everyday life.

Autonomous vehicles are not very popular with Americans. About 54% of U.S. adults are worried about driverless vehicle implementation and 56% say they wouldn’t even ride a driverless vehicle [1]. Clearly there is a lot of distrust in autonomous vehicles, but as more autonomous features are implemented in day to day cars trust will increase. Evidently autonomous vehicles should only be implemented when they are safer than manned vehicles. Over 94% of motor vehicle crashes are caused by human factors [2], introducing reputable autonomous vehicle systems would significantly reduce any crashes on the road saving countless number of lives.

Autonomous vehicles could very well be the future of transportation as we know it creating safer and more efficient ways of travel, but its implementation has to be done correctly. Ethical and technological concerns have to be addressed correctly without cutting corners. Examining new technologies being developed to create safe and efficient vehicles can help the public understand how autonomous vehicles can be implemented safely to the public. Ethical concerns also need to be addressed to know what kinds of government regulation and laws need to be created for safe use of autonomous vehicles.

Autonomous Vehicle Technologies

Many cars are made now with an array of sensors doing the job for the driver like, lane assist and adaptive cruise control. As more of these technologies are implemented in modern cars less of the burden of driving will be on people and more and more will be controlled by the cars themselves. The main challenge for cars to become autonomous is the ability to understand their surroundings and know the right thing to do in certain situations. Sensors like RADAR, LIDR, and camera systems are used as ‘eyes’ autonomous systems to navigate their surroundings. 

RADAR is a technology that emulates bat echolocation by using radio waves instead of sound. In autonomous vehicles RADAR is used to gather information on surroundings, like trucks and cars, and can work efficiently in fog and the dark. It sends the information to a computer onboard to make decisions based on the gathered data. RADAR has incredible range, detecting objects faster than lidar or cameras, but the resolution of the data is low [4]. While the image radar gives the computer is not very clear it can give precise information on how fast other vehicles are moving or how far they are which is extremely important in autonomous vehicles. Autonomous vehicles require an incredible amount of data collection to create a clear ‘image’ of their surroundings so that they can maneuver their environment safely and efficiently. RADAR is one tool that helps autonomous vehicles visualize their surroundings.

Another tool used in many autonomous vehicle systems is LIDAR, Light Detection and Ranging, sensors. LIDAR sensors use lasers to map the environment, and can detect objects up to 300 meters away [3]. This makes them a good option for autonomous vehicles because it gives them a large range of detection capability which is necessary to give the vehicle an understanding of its surroundings. LIDAR creates a 3D map allowing a computer to ‘visualize’ precise and high quality live imaging of its surroundings [5]. Precise live imaging is key in autonomous vehicles because of the need to be able to understand their surroundings so that they can drive safely on roads. 

A technology used instead of RADAR or LIDAR by Tesla in their autopilot and full self driving system is a system of cameras used as ‘eyes’ [6]. The cameras collect data on the car's surroundings which a computer on board uses to make decisions on what the car should do. Although cameras work really well to recognize cars and pedestrians they need clear sight to function optimally [3]. This is a costly disadvantage because poor weather conditions, like snow or fog, can significantly impact the cameras creating serious safety concerns.

Safety and Ethics of Autonomous Vehicles

Safety is a critical concern in the implementation of autonomous vehicles. While they will reduce human error, like distracted driving, there are still challenges in making autonomous vehicles perfect. Challenges like sensor reliability, unexpected scenarios, and cyber attacks targeting vehicle systems [7] need to be addressed before implementing autonomous vehicles in everyday life. 

Cybersecurity measures must be implemented to keep autonomous vehicles safe against malicious attacks that could take control of the functions creating serious problems. Ensuring that any attack on an autonomous vehicle’s sensors or data can be detected and interrupted is necessary. For efficient implementation secure transmission technology which uses the highest level of privacy and security is critical [9] to ensure safety and trust in autonomous vehicles.

Ethical considerations when discussing autonomous vehicles are equally important. The ethical dilemmas that the decision making software will have to make needs to be a focus for the design and implementation of autonomous vehicles. Scenarios where the vehicle has to prioritize different outcomes, like whether to protect the passengers or pedestrians in emergency situations. How autonomous vehicle algorithms respond to unforeseen events is a topic with rising interest. 

Implementation of Autonomous Vehicles

As autonomous vehicle technologies, like RADAR, LIDAR, and camera systems continue to become more advanced and accurate, cars and other vehicles will become less dependent on humans to navigate until they become fully autonomous. Before safe and dependable autonomous vehicles become more readily available a plan for implementation has to exist or roads will continue to have similar problems they already do. 

Congestion and traffic control is a huge issue in transportation as cities continue to grow and more cars are on the roads. The main reason for this congestion is due to accidents and people not anticipating slow upcoming traffic [9]. A benefit to autonomous vehicles is that they are controlled by computers which can in theory communicate with each [10] other to know exactly where and what other autonomous vehicles are going and doing. This will make transportation extremely efficient, getting rid of human variables autonomous vehicles could coordinate distances with each other eliminating traffic and in turn drastically reducing fuel consumption. 

Of course this method only works if there are no human drivers on the road. If this were implemented it would raise questions of if this infringes on people's freedom. In the end the question is are people willing to sacrifice a part of their freedom to eliminate car accidents and end traffic for good.

Another less controversial implementation of autonomous vehicles that would benefit road safety and traffic efficiency would be to make public buses autonomous. Autonomous buses enhance traffic safety, improve efficiency of current transportation systems, and lower transportation costs [11]. Cities and towns could greatly benefit from autonomous buses revolutionizing their public transportation system. By autonomizing buses, public transportation can run at higher frequency making it more accessible and reliable [12]. Having reliable public transportation can lower the amount of people that drive places reducing traffic and hopefully accidents.

Cost will be a limiting factor in any effort to implement autonomous vehicles, but as more work is continued to be done the cost of creating autonomous systems will go down [5]. Lowering costs of these technologies will be crucial for it to be implemented and be more readily available for the public.

Future of Transportation

Autonomous vehicles have the potential to revolutionize transportation like many other technologies that have come before it. They could increase traffic safety, eliminate traffic, and be key in lowering transportation emissions, but autonomous vehicles need to be implemented correctly. While human operated vehicles continue to operate there will always be risks because of imperfect behavior. Discussion on how autonomous vehicles will be implemented in society needs to be discussed now while they are still in the process of being perfected so that when they are dependable we can maximize their benefit as a society. Whether it be public transportation or a complete overhaul of how we use cars in daily lives autonomous vehicles will change human transportation in the not too distant future.

Bibliography

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[2] “Critical Reasons for Crashes Investigated in the National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation survey” National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (February 2015). https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812115

[3] Ayala, Rodrigo, and Tauheed Khan Mohd. “Sensors in Autonomous Vehicles: A Survey.” Journal of Autonomous Vehicles and Systems 1, no. 031003 (December 27, 2021). https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4052991.

[4] Srivastav, Arvind, and Soumyajit Mandal. Radars for Autonomous Driving: A Review of Deep Learning Methods and Challenges, 2023.

[5] Pendse, Pratiksha. “An Overview on LiDAR for Autonomous Vehicles,” April 18, 2024. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10992391.

[6] Tesla. “Autopilot and Full Self-Driving Capability | Tesla Support.” Accessed July 6, 2024. https://www.tesla.com/support/autopilot.

[7] Schwalb, Edward. “Analysis of Hazards for Autonomous Driving.” Journal of Autonomous Vehicles and Systems 1, no. 021003 (April 1, 2021). https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4049922.

[8] Elmquist, Asher, Radu Serban, and Dan Negrut. “A Sensor Simulation Framework for Training and Testing Robots and Autonomous Vehicles.” Journal of Autonomous Vehicles and Systems 1, no. 021001 (February 23, 2021). https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4050080.

[9] Khan, Firoz, R. Lakshmana Kumar, Seifedine Kadry, Yunyoung Nam, and Maytham N. Meqdad. “Autonomous Vehicles: A Study of Implementation and Security.” International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering (IJECE) 11, no. 4 (August 1, 2021): 3013–21. https://doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v11i4.pp3013-3021.

[10] Goodin, Christopher, Greg Henley, Lucas Cagle, Brandon Black, Justin Carrillo, and David McInnis. “Decentralized Swarm Control in Communication-Constrained Environments Using a Blended Leader Follower-Artificial Potential Field With Biologically Inspired Interactions.” Journal of Autonomous Vehicles and Systems 3, no. 041001 (June 13, 2024). https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4065533.

[11] Goldbach, Carina, Jörn Sickmann, Thomas Pitz, and Tatjana Zimasa. “Towards Autonomous Public Transportation: Attitudes and Intentions of the Local Population.” Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives 13 (March 1, 2022): 100504. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2021.100504.

[12] Mouratidis, Kostas, and Victoria Cobeña Serrano. “Autonomous Buses: Intentions to Use, Passenger Experiences, and Suggestions for Improvement.” Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour 76 (January 1, 2021): 321–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2020.12.007..007.