Automotive Assisted Driving Technology - Book Report/Review Example

 Automotive Assisted Driving Technology Technology has long been a turning point as each new one overpowers the former. Along with all the other fields, the automotive industry has also excelled in the technological advancements of their field. In the last two decades specifically, there has been an impactful modification in the automobiles. It is however, true that the automotive industry has been one of the first adopters of the advances made in the design, manufacture and production, and application of technology. As different software applications are used in the application of technology, the powerful CAD software is used to allow the engineers to adopt advanced designs and also to stimulate performances. Another technology which was introduced was the Computational Fluids Dynamics (CFD) software which allowed advancement in the engine designs. Such advancements indeed changed the meaning of the word “automobile”. These advances had advanced and improved the inherent mechanical safety and the performance of the modern vehicles (Erjavec, 2009, p. 200). These are long term impacts and the technology will continue to do so well in the future. There is one factor that has not seen any significant improvement and that is the human element which given the increasing numbers of road users is likely to become even more critical. Whilst technology is not in the position to redesign the human race; nor would it, there is plenty of scope to develop systems which can assist drivers thereby mitigating the human element when it comes to driving performance. This can be achieved with by introduction of advanced sensor technology and automated control systems. The DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, in United States) Grand Challenge is a competition held for the driverless vehicles. They had invited several contenders from the industry leaders and research development departments that have established fully automated driving systems which can perform well in urban and rural areas. These scenarios were presented by a range of obstacles and realistic scenarios created which were typically found in those environments. The DARPA Grand Challenge authorities awarded cash prizes to further accelerate the mission. It was created in order to advance the technologies and create fully autonomous ground vehicles which were capable of competing with the off road conditions in the given span of time. Automated control systems were introduced in the automobiles and they allowed the control theory to be applied to regulate the process without the need of any kind of human input. The process stays in running as the controller of the machine changes the input to the process without disturbances. This is the literature of the control theory which applies mathematical and physics logics to the processes and creates what became a rapid advancement of the 20th century especially when regarded to the automobile industry. The main feeding was the electrical and mechanical energy through which the system would work. These control systems and sensor technology was the basis of the research and practical establishment (Rajamani, 2012, p. 198). Improving the driver performance was also an aspect of the research process and it lead to the development of the control systems and designs that enhanced the driver performance. Before the engineers could develop the driverless autonomous car, there were early developments made using the control systems in the automobiles. These advancements were a starter to the boost in the industry (Eckermann, 2001, p. 153). Some of the early examples are important to consider while understanding the fully autonomous car and its roots. Autonomous cruise control is an optional control system in vehicles and it was designed to be based on the sensor information from the on board sensors. Another example is the anti-lock braking system which allows the motor vehicle wheels to maintain the interactive contact with the surface of the road in accordance to the driver input and prevents the wheels from locking up and uncontrollable skidding. Parking sensors also were an early advancement which tended to sense the unseen obstacles for the driver while parking maneuvers (Larminie, Lowry, 2012, p. 43). When the advancement in the automobile industry is considered in relation to the driver performance, it is essential to understand the sensor technology. The sensor technology and the automated control system is combined together to establish the fully autonomous or driverless cars. The sensor technology uses sensors which are sensitive devices used to convert the physical quantity to the electronic signals that are readable. Sensors have been long introduced and are used in many day to day instruments for example thermometers. But most people are unaware of the big processes that these sensors can carry out. There are a number of applications of the sensors and they are machines, robotics, engines and most importantly in cars (Wilson, 2005, p. 321). Sensors were also used in cars when there was a need of human effort, and even now when there are driverless cars, there is a need for sensors. In fact, it is all about sensors as they respond to the signals when they are touched and their sensitivity is the key factor that indicates its performance level and its output. As technology advanced, the use of sensors was also highly promoted and it soon introduced as assistance to the drivers performance. It was one of the assistive driving technologies which not only assisted the drivers but also took over their driving in its entirety with limited role of the driver (Sul, 2011, p. 47). Driver assist technology was known to be the advancements in technology that eased the work of a human driving a motor vehicle. Initially, these advancements included sensor parking, and anti-lock braking systems, but now they are more like the GPS (global positioning system) where the entire control is shifted to the sensors rather than the manual effort. Driver assist technologies are used to improve the driving with the help of an electronic machine. These sensors are critically judged under the environment conditions to ensure their sensitivity and reliability (Happian, 2001, p. 333). Step by step what was observed in the automobile industry was that the sensor technology and automotive control system had taken over the human element and contribution and now what merely was needed was a touch to feed in the sensor. An autonomous car was thus created. This was a robotic car which was itself, without the interference of human power, capable of fulfilling all the human transportation activities like that of a traditional car. Its sensor technology was nourished in such a way that it could sense the environment and navigate on its own. The only job of a human sitting in the car was to choose his destination, and all the further mechanisms and operations were to be carried out by the vehicle sensor itself (Michael, 2011, p. 101). The techniques with the help of which these sensors sense the environment and are capable of navigating are the computer vision, GPS and radar. These are advanced control systems which interpret the information and navigate the paths and the obstacles. The sensors of these cars have maps which are regularly updates as per the GPS technology, the driver has to input the address of the location where he wants to go and the automobile, driverless, drives to that point. The robotics car is the most recent example of this type which is manufactured by Google, Toyota and Volkswagen. It is important to look at the legal and social aspect of this technological advancement. These autonomous cars are not widely spread yet but there are legal issues starting to rise. There are questions of liability raised and insurance policy makers are also in doubt. As the industry trend shows how the driverless less, autonomous cars will be largely manufactured, they will have a potential impact on the ecosystem of the automobiles and this will bring likely changes in the market system. To examine the economic system and the innovations in the system, there are four aspects to be considered: market dynamics, convergence, adoption and implications for investment. All these factors cover up the social and economical forces which make the change inevitable (Acarman, Redmill, 2011, p. 34). The automotive industry has an impact on the social and economic forces as it has long been a force for innovation and economic growth in the market. If the autonomous cars become a mainstream reality, it will greatly affect the traditional automotive value chain. This new technology provides solution for some of the social problems such as the increasing costs for traffic crashes and the transportation infrastructure; the hours wasted in traffic jams and the space of urban land wasted in huge parking lots. Some other social benefits are increased fuel efficiency, higher speed limit, increased roadway capacity and others. The observations also consider the legal framework to deal with the complex issues of liability, such as where the drivers intentionally lose control of the vehicle while driving and it bumps. In these cases, the driver will be dealt under lesser liability than the usual manual drivers. Another issue that could arise is the insurance underwriting issue. It was held that due to autonomous cars, the insurance liability could be transferred to the manufacturers and the state rather than the “driver”. It will be a challenge to solve the litigation issues and to answer the question of who owns the risk (Gopal, 2012, p. 201). In the views of those who welcome innovations with open hearts, this advancement will be an opening in the domain of mobility services. According to many, as long as this advancement forwards the automobile industry, it will be accepted both socially and legally. It will have a positive effect on both systems. Convergence will give enhanced safety and mobility and it would reduce environmental impacts. There have already been much investment made on this new technology by the automobile companies and they are trying to find a way in which they can compete and collaborate at the same time. The automobile company leaders believe that the age of driverless cars is coming but it will require quite a long time to develop and establish. Every new technology is implemented when it is accepted. The autonomous cars have, even though started to manufacture, they have not been completely accepted by the market and the consumers. Scientists and engineers say that even if it takes a lot of time, it will definitely show positive impacts. The technology advancement took a while to be established and so will its market. Technology has made life much easier for the humans as machines take over all their tasks. For some, it is still hard to believe that driverless cars can exist, but engineers have proved it. Driverless cars are the next revolution and the highlight of this age, once it starts to be operated commonly. References Acarman T., Redmill K. 2011. Autonomous Ground Vehicles. USA: Artech House Eckermann E. 2001. World History of the Automobile. USA: SAE Erjavec J. 2009. Automotive Technology: A Systems Approach. USA: Cengage Learning Gopal A. 2012. Mobile Intelligent Autonomous Systems. USA: CRC Press Happian J. 2001. Intro to Modern Vehicle Design. UK: Elsevier Larminie J., Lowry J. 2012. Electric Vehicle Technology Explained. UK: John Wiley & Sons Michael D. 2011. Learning to Drive: Perception for Autonomous Cars. USA: Stanford University Rajamani R. 2012. Vehicle Dynamics and Control. NY: Springer Sul S. 2011. Control of Electric Machine Drive Systems. UK: John Wiley & Sons Wilson J. 2005. Sensor Technology Handbook. UK: Newnes Read More