Autonomous Vehicles; their development and their future

Introduction

The purpose of this report is to give an insight on the development of autonomous vehicles and their impact on society and other affiliated areas. Autonomous vehicles are best described as unmanned vehicles which can sense its surrounding areas and through which they are able to navigate themselves without the requirement of human input. The development of autonomous vehicles is aimed primarily at increasing the security of passengers on the road by relying upon an AI system to navigate the vehicle. AI(s) are computer programs, therefore making them less prone to making mistakes as opposed to their human counterpart.

The vehicle’s AI also referred to as vehicle intelligence, a notion embedding autonomy, deep learning and adaptability that enables the car to learn by experience to continuously improve, eventually outperforming human driving skills.¹ 

The impact of such vehicles on the remainder of the automobile market and on other affiliated sectors that depend on the automobile industry to function is yet to be determined entirely. The arrival of such vehicles to the general market marks the passage into a new age of transport. How will this ever-increasing development of such a technology going to affect the other end of the market; companies such as Uber might find themselves in dire straits and in need to completely overhaul their business strategy?

This report details the development and technological history of AVs and the future in their development and their impact on society and the automobile industry.