A brief introduction to self-driving cars

Every day, the technology propelling the development of autonomous cars becomes increasingly fine tuned. Most experts agree that it won’t be long before driverless cars are cruising the streets in droves. Here are some of the basics about this emerging technology.

How does a self-driving car work?
The easiest way to understand how self-driving cars work is to look at their key technologies.

• Radar sensors monitor the speed and position of surrounding vehicles and objects.

• Lidar sensors build a map of the exterior world by shooting out millions of infrared lasers and recording how quickly they bounce back.

• Ultrasonic sensors are found in the wheels and they detect the position of the curb and surrounding environment when the vehicle parks.

The data from these sensors are transmitted to a central computer, which manipulates the steering, acceleration and braking.

What kinds of self-driving cars are there?
When it comes to self-driving technology, there are five levels of automation.

• Level 1: driver assistance. The car has various driver-assist features such as lane-keeping support and blind-spot detection.

• Level 2: partial automation. The driver remains engaged in driving and monitoring the road but can make use of certain automated features, such as parking assistance and traffic-jam assist (which allows for automated driving on well-paved roads when traffic is moving slowly).

• Level 3: conditional automation. The driver doesn’t need to monitor the environment but is prompted to intervene and take control of the wheel in certain circumstances.

• Level 4: high automation. The car can handle all driving tasks. The driver is prompted to intervene only in rare situations.

• Level 5: full automation. The car is fully self-operated and will never prompt a person to intervene.

As it stands, only Level 1 and Level 2 cars (such as the Tesla Model S) are available to consumers on a large scale. However, cars with more advanced automation are being tested by a number of automakers, and it’s only a matter of time before we start seeing Level 3s on the streets too.