Reshaping Urban Landscapes with Autonomous Vehicles

A vehicle that operates independently, i.e., without any human input that can move and guide itself through traffic and various weather and road conditions, is called an autonomous vehicle or driverless vehicle.

Legal Definition

In the District of Columbia (DC) code,

1. “Autonomous vehicle” means a vehicle capable of navigating District roadways and interpreting traffic-control devices without a driver actively operating any of the vehicle’s control systems. The term “autonomous vehicle” excludes a motor vehicle enabled with active safety systems or driver-assistance systems, including systems to provide electronic blind-spot assistance, crash avoidance, emergency braking, parking assistance, adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assistance, lane-departure warning, or traffic-jam and queuing aid, unless the system alone or in combination with other systems enables the vehicle on which the technology is installed to drive without the active control or monitoring by a human operator.
2. “Driver” means a human operator of a motor vehicle with a valid driver’s license.
3. “Public roadway” means a street, road, or public thoroughfare that allows motor vehicles.
4. “Traffic control device” means a traffic signal, traffic sign, electronic traffic sign, pavement marking, or other sign, device, or apparatus designed and installed to direct moving traffic.

Autonomous vehicles perceive their surroundings and navigate through different scenarios using a combination of sensors, cameras, radar, and AI. An advanced control system interprets information collected from these devices, identifying blockages and obstacles, and calculating the most suitable navigation route for the vehicle. AI is initialized from artificial intelligence (see article AI of today and tomorrow) – software, i.e. programming machines to interact with humans, or software, i.e. programming machines with human-like behavior. To put it into perspective – AI with Human Characteristics.

The basic categories of autonomous driving are partially automated, highly automated, and fully automated.

• Partially automated – the human driver needs to constantly monitor the automatic functions. The driver must not perform any non-driving activities;
• Highly automated – the vehicle’s automatic system knows its limitations and signals the driver to take control when necessary. Depending on the circumstances, certain non-driving tasks can be performed by the driver;
• Fully automated – the vehicle’s automated system is able to cope with all situations autonomously, and there is no need for a human driver.

It is predicted that “autonomous vehicles eventually will integrate onto roadways worldwide by escalating through six stages of driver assistance technology advancements in years that follow”.

The Six Different Levels of Automation

The SAE’s automation classification system is based on six different levels (from zero to full automation). The SAE J3016 is the US Dept. of transportation’s official reference for defining levels of vehicle autonomy.

• Level 0 – There is no autonomy, and the human driver does all the driving.
• Level 1 – The driver controls the vehicle, but some assist features may be included. The vehicle’s advanced driver system (ADS) can “sometimes assist” the human driver.
• Level 2 – The vehicle has combined automated functions, but the human driver must always remain engaged with the driving task and monitor the driving environment.
• Level 3 – The ADS on the vehicle can perform aspects of the driving task simultaneously under some circumstances. The human driver must be ready to take control at all times with notice.
• Level 4 – The ADS on the vehicle can perform all driving tasks in certain circumstances or only in limited spatial areas. During those circumstances, the human driver does not need to pay attention. 
• Level 5 – No human intervention is necessary. At this level, human occupants are passengers. An ADS on the vehicle is capable of doing all driving tasks in all circumstances.

It is important to note that there is an inconsistency in what constitutes an “autonomous” or “driverless” vehicle in the automotive industry. According to SAE International’s J3016 standard: “Some vernacular usages associate autonomous specifically with full driving automation (level 5), while other usages apply it to all levels of driving automation, and some state legislation has defined it to correspond approximately to any ADS at or above level 3 (or to any vehicle equipped with such an ADS).”

Pros and Cons of Autonomous Vehicles

Possible benefits of autonomous vehicles could be:

• Increased safety – 3.286 car accidents happen every day, that is, 1.25 million people die in traffic accidents each year. Autonomous vehicles will reduce the number of auto incidents as the human factor will be eliminated from the equation
• Improved mobility, less traffic, no traffic jams – autonomous vehicles will be designed to communicate with one another and identify the most optimal route which could reduce congestion and make transport by car more fluent
• Reduced emissions
• Reduced costs

Potential cons:

• Autonomous vehicles are more vulnerable to hackers and other cyber threats
• Some people’s jobs could be made obsolete

Autonomous Vehicles (AV), Landscaping Our Cities, Transforming Our Lives and Giving Rise to a New and More Cost-Efficient Form of Transportation

If we want to grasp the real potential and benefits of AV (technology) and how it can transform our cities, we need to peer back in the time of the automobile. The automobile transformed our cities in many ways. For instance, roads were constructed to feed the needs of city transportation. Meanwhile, suburbs had developed due to this technological advent, and people from distant places could travel to their workplaces within the city. But after many people adopted the technology, our cities became more crowded, traffic increased, and the number of parking spaces increased. Consequently, prices for property and real estate grew.

For example, today, it is estimated that our vehicles are parked 95% of the time. Buildings are planned and constructed with 50-60 % parking space out of the whole construction land. So, let’s imagine the possibilities of transforming our cities when we implement AVs. All these aspects will also evolve through further developments. Like the automobile, we should define it as the base technology. AVs represent the development and the pinnacle of the automobile itself, something interesting to consider as well.

AV Companies

Let’s put into perspective today’s companies that manage to employ technology to produce AV with level 4 or maybe even level 5. Uber has AV level 3, and Waymo, at the end of the last year, released level 4. These companies serve as taxis but are pioneering with AV technologies. So, if we leave out our scruffy habits with the AV, cities would be differently landscaped. In this scenario, many possibilities will occur in the cities. Parking spaces will be reduced to a minimum or zero if we adopt the new transportation habit virally.

Imagine the possibilities that lie ahead. We need to predict the possible necessities for AV traffic infrastructure implementation and mold and construct our cities to satisfy the needs efficiently. We can advocate and consider the development of our cities before the full advent of AVs solely because cities that think ahead stay ahead.

How AVs Work and What Kind of Mechanisms They Incorporate

Sensory system of AV

Let’s see the sensory devices of Waymo’s self-driving system:

1. On the top

Lidar system that shoots laser beams in distance, enabling the car to see its surroundings. Waymo says this Lidar can detect a helmet two football fields away.

A forward-facing camera works with eight others stationed around the car to provide 360 degrees of vision.

2. On the back

Radar sensors that can detect objects in rain, fog, or snow.

3. On the front

Tightly integrated self-driving systems into a hybrid minivan (created by Fiat Chrysler),

4. Incorporated AI system

The AV uses an Incorporated AI system that makes sense of the input information that comes from the sensory devices and navigates the vehicle through the traffic.

Current and Future Limitations and Possible Implications and Developments

We have already heard about Uber’s and Tesla’s car accidents, and this is for sure concerning, but the limitation of this technology is the sensory system or the limitations of cameras. They can not deal with harsh road conditions, heavy storms, blizzards, and rains, solely for the reason that cameras are very sensitive to darkness and 3D spacing or mapping. Lidars (lasers that function like radars) are put on top of the vehicle, shooting beams of light while in a rotating state and mapping the surroundings to high accuracy for obstacles and traffic conditions. Sadly, this technology is also limited to a certain extent, but hopefully, it will be advanced and developed, increasing security even further.

We can take a closer look at the implications it will have on our lives. For example, we spend 26 minutes commuting to work daily, which is nine whole days of our life in a year. We can use this time to read, do exercise, devote ourselves to our children, or do any work on our laptops, while the driverless vehicle will get us from point A to point B safely, easily, and seamlessly.

There is another possibility lurking in the background, always with the intensity of a race. It is the race for battery technology. If we make this technology self-sustainable or we incorporate sustainable resources or drives, for instance, batteries that could charge in no time like filling gas into your reservoir and that could last thousands of kilometers, or even further the battery technology up to a stage where it would be able to accumulate power from a device incorporated within the vehicle that would generate the power from the mechanical movements of the vehicle’s components.

It could involve a combination of technologies, for instance, a device that generates, accumulates, and transmits power by transforming the mechanical pressure imposed on the roads from the movement of vehicles. Another technology already incorporated on the streets involves highway wind turbines that transform the kinetic energy generated from passing vehicles in opposite directions. Then a generator converts this energy from kinetic to electrical energy.

The point is that, with these improvements, AVs will even penetrate the sphere of our environmental issues and contribute to the process of mitigation as well as landscaping the cities into more efficient, healthy, and smart ones. Nevertheless, the impact it will have on our lives is on an unimaginable scale.

To Conclude

It would be a pity not to mention autonomous flying aircraft as a technology that would release land on the ground even more, but this will be an exposé and the scope of view in some of the further readings as it is worth being closely looked at and to be put into perspective.

Meanwhile, AVs are building the future, as Waymo has already used driverless vehicles. It remains on us to adopt and support its full potential by forgetting old habits and getting used to new ways of transportation. It is not whether we choose it or not; it will be omnipresent in no time; some won’t be able to catch up with the pace and technologies, and some countries will suffer the consequences of not implementing the new ways.

So, governments must compose policies that feed and support incorporating these technologies that would reinvent the modern city lifestyle, only by establishing AV transportation technology and AI traffic management. It is the ultimate goal of each human being to organize time better, have more time for self-improvement, and live in a healthier and well-managed or organized environment. AV technology offers this and a lot more, no matter whether we want this or not, it will happen, as it is a consequential sequel and has a variety of usages even across industries to the point of self-driving bots that are coordinating and classifying products in production lines for instance.

Finally, it is the shift that is happening in technological direction with the advent of AI, and it will have a dramatical impact on our habits, this is what everyone will be faced with, even countries, companies, and policies; many changes will be necessary in order these technologies to be globally accepted and applied. That is in countries where existential issues are prioritized or countries in development. Reasonably, one that thinks ahead stays ahead, and reasons and possibilities are always boundless.

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