STEFAN Victor-Lucian, Statistical Science (International Programme) MSci Essay

on Driverless Cars

Nowadays, tons of accidents happen on the streets due to reckless drivers and confusing situations in traffic. Studies show that the probability of dying due to a plane crash is smaller than the probability of dying due to a car crash. Because of this, technology needs to enable our cars to start taking care of our driving if we cannot do this ourselves. That having been said, some talented young engineers and designers have come up with a solution to this problem, and this solution can not only save our lives, but also make them easier.

The invention is a car designed to drive without a driver, which can think in real time and act correspondingly. The driverless car is an intelligent agent which gets information from the environment and has an internal database which is constantly updated. The agent makes its own decisions based on the situations in which it has to act. But how does it work?

To begin with, the car must perceive the environment. It must be equipped with a set of maps provided by GPS systems so that it should know any possible route for getting from a place to another and satellite information regarding weather forecast and accidents. Then, it must have cameras with very high resolution and sensors with millimetric precision which could help it to detect the presence of any other agents, such as pedestrians, animals, cars, bikes etc. Also, it must perceive traffic lights, pedestrian lines and other road signs. The mix between the data which is supplied by exterior sources (GPS, etc.) combined with its ability to rationalize makes the car ready to start taking action.

Secondly, the car must also act based on the information received from its “perceptual apparatus”. It should synchronize the throttle, steering wheel, breaking system and shifter so that it can position itself on the road in such a way that it would provide a safe trip both for the passengers and for the other traffic participants. The car is able due to its sensors and cameras to recognize the action of deceleration effectuated by a fellow car which stands in front of it, so it reacts either by going round it or by doing the same act of deceleration, both operations being effectuated in safety conditions. By recognizing the environment via cameras, the car obeys to the traffic legislation, so that it does not cross the red traffic light or the pedestrian lines while there are people on it. The car then changes its driving conduit when meteorological phenomenon happen, i.e. when the road is icy or when it is foggy outside it should change its speed so that it can avoid accidents.

Thirdly, the benefits of introducing driverless cars in the United Kingdom are numerous and amongst the outcomes, we can mention: reducing the number of traffic collisions which cause human and environmental injuries, ensuring a better fluency of traffic (by maintaining some gaps between the cars when on road, creating space for more cars on the road, reducing parking spaces and an increase in speed), reducing the number of traffic police officers. Other goals would be the minimization of the cost of transport in terms of time, because, while commuting in a self-driven machine, the passengers can use the trip time in their favor. Also, a good advantage for the owners of driverless cars is that they could program them to deliver packages from a place to another. For example, companies could send driverless trucks loaded with packages to the destination and back without the risk of having a sleepy driver.

Last but not least, those cars are also environmentally sustainable because the fuel consumption and emissions do not reach worrisome levels while the driving style is cautious. Because of their main function and because of the fact that driverless cars are good for our environment makes them a good investment.

To conclude, the driverless cars could be the invention of the 21st century - their feasibility as well as the benefits they bring in terms of personal safety, time management and

environment protection make them an efficient means of reforming the technological field. The United Kingdom would only have benefits if these intelligent agents start showing up on the streets.