Artificial Intelligence Techniques Used in Autonomous Cars - Term Paper Example

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNIQUES USED IN AUTONOMOUS CARS Artificial Intelligence techniques used in Autonomous cars Affiliation Introduction Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged to be the future in the field of information technology. Basically, “it is a science of making intelligent machines that perform tasks and better and faster than humans can” (Harris M. C., 2010, p. 6). This paradigm of the science is proposed to develop artificial intelligence into machines and thus automating their actions. In fact, AI has already been heavily used in a wide variety of disciplines and applications such as medical, business applications and so on (Millington & Funge, 2009, p. 4). In addition, an important mission of artificial intelligence paradigm is to create human like intelligence in machine to reinstate and assist humans in everyday tasks. The basic purpose of this paper is to present a detailed analysis of autonomous cars with a particular focus on AI techniques used in the development of these cars. AI is a complete science which encompasses a wide variety of concepts and ideas. This paper will discuss these concepts briefly. This paper will discuss different AI techniques that are being used in these cars. Some of the well-known techniques are outlined below: Robots Basically, robotics is a field of artificial intelligence which deals with the study of robots. In this scenario, robots refer to machines that are used to carry out tasks which can be performed by humans. In fact, some robots are made so intelligent that they can perform their work without instructions. While the majority of robots always has an instructor guiding them what to do (Dunbar, 2013). Additionally, the robot is a Czech word, which is used for robota, meaning "forced labor." In addition, this term was first used by Czech writer Karel Capek in a play in 1920. In this play, the robots ultimately take over their creators (Rouse, 2007). Physically, a robot contains the same components as humans have. In this scenario, a robot has some kind of motor, a portable physical structure, a power supply, a sensor system and a processing system "brain" that is responsible for controlling all of these components. Fundamentally, robots are human created forms of animal life but actually they are machines which are intended to replicate human and animal behavior (Harris M. C., 2010; Berlin, 2011; Harris T. , 2013). Artificial Neural Networks According to (Stergiou & Siganos, 2010), “an artificial neural network is a data processing model that is inspired by the method of biological nervous systems information processing.” Neural Network is also a renowned and heavily researched area of the AI. Stergiou & Siganos (2010) described that in the neural network field the working of human neuron is copied into the computer based systems. In addition, the neural network is an AI based computer program which imitates the human nervous systems’ working. It is based on neural net which has weights on each node that can be adjusted to make suitable decisions. Such systems are typically seen in automatic driving systems that are under-research and at the early stages of development (Laudon & Laudon, 1999; Stergiou & Siganos, 2010). Autonomous Cars An autonomous car, is also known using a number of other names such as self-driving cars, driverless cars or robot cars. Basically, these cars are designed using artificial intelligence techniques with the purpose of supporting the human transportation facilities which are provided by a traditional car. In view of the fact that it is an autonomous vehicle, hence it can sense its atmosphere and navigate without requiring human interaction. Though, until now these robotic cars are mostly used as demo systems and prototypes, however it is expected that in the future they will become more common. The working of these robotic cars is similar to artificial neural networks which are used using robotics. In this scenario, these cars use different components such as lidar, radar, computer vision and GPS to sense their environments. After that these sensory information is used by advanced control systems in order to translate and recognize suitable navigation paths, relevant signage and obstacles. In fact, some robotic cars are capable of updating their navigation paths and maps using these sensory information, permitting the cars to keep up to date with their location even when settings alter or when they enter the new atmosphere (Wikipedia, 2013; Aramburo & Trevino, 2008). Up till now, a large number of projects have been initiated to make intelligent vehicles. In this scenario, one of the most important project is initiated by Google. This project has attained a considerable success. In fact, now Googles self-driving cars have turned out to be open to the elements, rather accurately. Additionally, the company has started to test-drive them on public roads and even once they have invited public to drive initial car as it raced everywhere a locked course. In addition, Googles robot car that is known as Toyota Priuses has at the moment successfully completed the drive of approximately 300,000 kilometers (more than 190,000 miles). In fact, this car has been driven on busy highways, city traffic, as well as hilly roads with by requiring a least amount of human interference. Though, this success is still far from turning out to be practically possible, however the company has established a demo system on its location, by making use of self-directed golf carts. These golf charts can be used to take an idea of how these cars can be used to support human transportation facilities in the coming years. In addition, these details are still not published in any journal or book but these are discussed by Professor Sebastian Thrun, who is the project manager of this project, and engineer Chris Urmson in the form of a speech they delivered in a conference conducted by IEEE (Guizzo, 2011). Figure 1Parts of the Google car, Image Source: (Guizzo, 2011) According to Google engineer Urmson the company has heavily relied on two most important approaches all the way through the development of this project. The first thing is that their technique depends on very thorough maps of the territory and roads. According to engineers, this is crucial to identify the exact position of the car. On the other hand, they have not relied on getting location using the GPS for the reason that locations attained through GPS-based techniques which could be turned off in range of a several meters. While in the second mechanism, engineers perform a thorough testing prior to sending the robot car on a highway. In this scenario, when its the robot car’s turn to drive itself, it uses the previously collected data to compare the data that is valuable to distinguish pedestrians from static objects such as mailboxes and poles (Guizzo, 2011). There is another well-known example of robotic car known as Robot Car, which is developed by Department of Engineering Science at Oxford University in the UK. The project is undergoing under the batch of Mobile Robotics Group (MRG). However, this car can be distinguished from others on the basis of its cost in comparison to its technology. At the present, the project team encompasses more than 22 members in association with Nissan by using their hardware of the vehicle and technical support. In addition, Robotic Car is an amendment of the Nissan LEAF. The project team is intended to develop an environment-free navigation by means of autonomous perception and information engineering. Additionally, the project is intended to develop a safe driving car by linking with other drivers as well as making use of the infrastructures resourcefully at the same time as giving some free time to the drivers. Robot Car uses various AI techniques to keep an eye on the road, other cars and ramblers. In this scenario, if there is an obstacle onward, the speed of a car reduces itself and stops until the highway is clear again (Hulyacardas, 2013). Moreover, the car uses 3D sensing to start driving only after matching the stored 3D impression memory with the present atmosphere. In addition, like other AI technology this car first gets learning about its surrounding and after that it initiates the drive. This car encompasses three key components such as iPad, the Main Vehicle Computer (MVC) and the Low Level Controller (LLC). In this scenario, the iPad works as a user interface. Main Vehicle Computer is responsible for controlling everything about the drive. However, for a successful drive, all the three components must work in collaboration. Additionally, this autonomous car does not make use of the GPS, in its place it is planned like a robot which are used in logistics. Also, these are inexpensive as well as based on guide wires and reflective beacons (Hulyacardas, 2013). All the robotic cars work in a similar manner but they use different techniques or a mixture of techniques. References Aramburo, J., & Trevino, A. R. (2008). Advances in Robotics, Automation and Control. Vienna, Austria: I-Tech. This book discusses a variety of concepts and ideas related to machine automation and robotics. This book presents a detailed discussion on how robots work. I used this book to get an insight of AI basics and use of AI in automation. In addition, this book covers a wide variety of concepts and topics such as robot design, control, mathematical tools and techniques dedicated to improve the system design and control. Berlin, D. (2011, September 08). Autoficial intelligence (2). Retrieved April 02, 2014, from http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2011/09/driverless-cars This article is written by D.S Berlin. This article presents a detailed discussion on latest developments in the field of automation and robotics. This article is available online and presents various concepts related to autonomous cars. This article discusses latest developments in this area. This article also discusses how AI is being used by different manufacturers in the development of autonomous cars. Dunbar, B. (2013, September 06). What Is Robotics? Retrieved April 08, 2014, from http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/robotics/home/what_is_robotics_58.html This article is an excellent source for getting an insight of robotics. This article starts with an overview of robotics and moves towards a detailed discussion. This article discusses how robotics is being used by NASA in their projects. Guizzo, E. (2011, October 18). How Googles Self-Driving Car Works. Retrieved April 03, 2014, from http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/artificial-intelligence/how-google-self-driving-car-works This is an excellent source for getting an overview of cars developed by Google. This article gives an excellent example AI application for autonomous cars. This article discusses the complete process how these cars are being developed and tested. Harris, M. C. (2010). Artificial Intelligence (Cool Science). Cavendish Square Publishing. This book covers a number of concepts and ideas related to artificial intelligence. This book discusses different concepts and developments in the field of AI. This book was used to get an understanding of AI basics. Harris, T. (2013). How Robots Work. Retrieved April 09, 2014, from http://www.howstuffworks.com/robot.htm In view of the fact that autonomous cars work similar to robots so this article gives an excellent idea of how a robot works. This article discusses in detail different components of a robot. This article also discusses how these components work collectively. Hulyacardas. (2013, July 10). RobotCar the New Autonomous Car. Retrieved April 03, 2014, from http://www.roboticmagazine.com/military-medical-vehicles/robotcar-the-new-autonomous-car This article provides a discussion on a specific type of car known as robotcar, which was developed by mobile robotics group. This is an excellent example of use of AI in cars. Laudon, K. C., & Laudon, J. (1999). Management Information Systems: Organisation and Technology in the Networked Enterprise, 6th Edition. New York: Pearson. This book contains a wide variety of concepts related to IT. These concepts are of basic levels so it is very easy to understand these concepts. This book defines some of the AI related concepts in easy way. Millington, I., & Funge, J. (2009). Artificial Intelligence for Games, 2nd edition. CRC Press. This book covers a number of concepts and ideas related to artificial intelligence. This book discusses different concepts and developments in the field of AI. This book was used to get an understanding of AI basics. However, the key focus of this book is towards the usage of AI in the development of games. Rouse, M. (2007, April). robot (insect robot, autonomous robot). Retrieved April 06, 2014, from http://searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com/definition/robot This is an excellent article to get a deep insight of robots. This article discusses how a robot works. Stergiou, C., & Siganos, D. (2010). NEURAL NETWORKS. Retrieved April 10, 2014, from http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~nd/surprise_96/journal/vol4/cs11/report.html As neural networks play a critical role in the development of autonomous cars so this article was used to get an idea ofneural networks. This article discusses about neural networks in detail. Wikipedia. (2014, April 02). Autonomous car. Retrieved April 03, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_car Read More