Autonomous Cars Jaden Terry

History 1788 – James Watt invented the governor – speed limiter. 1945 – Ralph Teetor came up with cruise control because he was tired of riding with the people that sped up and slowed down too much. 1995 – Mercedes Benz invented a car, UniBW, that was 95% autonomous that only needed throttle and brakes controlled by humans. Present – Google has invented the Lexus RX450H which is completely autonomous and continues to be tested.

How It Works? 1. Radar 2. Optics 3. GPS 4. Lidar 5. Processors Sensors on the vehicle used to detect objects more than 100 meters of the car. Video Cameras used to track any road markings or traffic signals. Global Positioning System that keeps the car on route within 30 cm. Laser Radar scans the cars surrounding within a 100 meter radius. 7 dual-core processors and 2GB of RAM are needed to make sense of the data collected.

Who Is At Fault When the Cars Collide? Manufacturer? Owner? Software Engineer? New Idea that autonomous car owners would pay a small fee so that when any self-driving car was in an accident, this fund would go toward the damages. What will happen with Car Insurance?

Impact On Society One Car per family – Car may eventually be capable of picking you and your family up with the touch of a button. Cars will become more like a living room – No need for the steering wheel and why not make the front seats face backwards so you can see the people in the backseat. Many people predicting much less automotive crashes – texting, sleeping, and even drinking could eventually become okay in these new autonomous cars.

Risks Benefits Police – What happens when the police are pulling you over? Possible malfunction with the car. Can you trust it to take you where you want to go? Bad weather Possibly less crashes Last longer Faster way of getting places because vehicles can communicate with each other.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdgQpa1pUUE

Sources http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_driverless_car http://www.mikechiafulio.com/RIDE/history.htm http://auto.howstuffworks.com/under-the-hood/trends- innovations/driverless-car4.htm http://visual.ly/how-autonomous-vehicles-work http://www.thecarconnection.com/news/1082791_when- autonomous-cars-collide-whos-at-fault-vaccines-could- provide-an-answer