What is Autonomous Driving?
Autonomous driving, told as a story about a demo-track car with an empty driver's seat that sees and decides for itself.
The demo-track car — and its driver's seat is empty.How does that car see the road and dodge obstacles?
The road looks different every single time.Road conditions change every time, so fixed rules alone can't drive the car.
Autonomous driving is a car that sees the road, decides for itself, and turns the wheel.Within its set area, this demo car does all the driving, no one at the wheel.
The car sees with sensors, decides for itself, and moves the wheel and brakes on its own.Autonomous driving ranges from Level 0 (all human) to Level 5 (all car).
Self-driving cars are still clumsy in situations they've never seen.In unfamiliar situations, a driver may have to take over or a remote agent may have to advise.
Autonomous driving = a car that sees its surroundings with sensors, decides for itself, and acts on the wheel and brakes directly.
Autonomous driving perceives its surroundings with sensors like cameras, LiDAR, and radar, then has AI judge the situation and directly handle steering, acceleration, and braking. The SAE scale runs from Level 0 (no automation) to Level 5 (full autonomy), with less human involvement needed at each higher level. At Level 3 a person must take over when the system asks; at Level 4 no one needs to stand by within the set conditions, and at Level 5 under any conditions.
When grown-ups say it
- LiDAR
- The eye that measures distance exactly with lasers. An eye many self-driving cars rely on. → the eye that measures distance with lasers
- Autonomous Driving Levels
- Six stages where human involvement shrinks. Level 0 is all human; Level 5 is all car.
- Sensor Fusion
- Combining data from several sensors into one picture. Camera, LiDAR, and radar together cover for each other's blind spots.
- CPS
- Computer and real machine moving in lockstep. A self-driving car is one example living inside this bigger frame. → Cyber-Physical Systems
- Drone Security Threats
- Threats that target a drone's wireless control link. A self-driving car leans more on sensors than radio links, but outside attacks threaten both. → the drone held up by an invisible string
- Quantitative Risk Analysis
- A way to score accident probability and damage with numbers. A self-driving car's safety gets sized up the same way. → the scoreboard that writes risk as one number
- Smart Farm
- Another real-world setting where sensors tend the crops. The same sense-and-act-automatically idea lives on a farm too. → the greenhouse booth tended by sensors
- 4th Industrial Revolution
- The big wave made when many new technologies combine. The story that frames this whole exhibit hall. → the 4th Industrial Revolution