An autonomous car is also known as robotic car or driverless car or self-driving car. It is capable of satisfying the human transportation capabilities of a conventional car. It is also able to sense its environment and navigating on its own. Humans may select a destination target but they are not required to perform any mechanical operation of the vehicle. These vehicles sense the environment with techniques such as lidar, computer vision, radar and GPS. The advanced control systems present in the autonomous cars interpret the information to identify appropriate navigation paths, obstacles and relevant signage. Sensory input on these vehicles automatically updates their maps. Autonomous cars are not become well popular among the people. But their introduction to the society provides several direct advantages.
These cars fewer the traffic collisions because of its increased reliability and decreased reaction time compared to drivers. Due to the need of safety gaps in these cars, roadway capacity is increased and traffic congestion is reduced. They have the better ability to manage the traffic flow better. The robotic car can drive independently to wherever it is required. The space needed for vehicle parking is reduced. There is no need for traffic police and vehicle insurance. Autonomous cars receive necessary communication electronically. Hence there is no need of physical road signage.
The most significant obstacle to the production of autonomous cars is the fact that they are illegal on the public roads. In some countries, laws are passed to authorize the use of autonomous cars. The law defines the autonomous vehicle is the vehicle that uses artificial intelligence, global positioning system and sensors to drive itself without the active intervention of a human operator. The operator is not need to pay attention while the car is operating it.
Individual vehicles may get the benefits from information obtained from other vehicles specifically the information related to the traffic congestion and safety. The vehicles contain vehicular communication systems which is an emerging type of network. This network provides information to each other vehicles. Vehicular communication systems allow all the vehicles to co-operate to be more efficient.
Many computer scientists are doing research on developing intersection designed for autonomous cars that have no traffic lights, no stop signs. They are just computer programs that talk directly to each other on the road. Robotic cars incorporate adaptive cruise control which is a system that monitors distances to adjacent vehicles and also adjusting the speed with the traffic flow.