The Dawn of Driveless Cars

Have you ever been too tired too drive ? Have you ever wished your car came with an auto pilot ? Or maybe you had an accident, probably rare-ended another person's vehicle and wished that you were more concentrated on the road?

Well if you have answered yes to any of these questions, your gonna be intrigued by what technology has in store for cars in the not so distant future. Driverless cars, will be able to solve a lot of problems for drivers, according to "How Stuff Works" Jaime Page Deaton, automakers are developing complex systems that allow cars to drive themselves. They're also furthering existing technologies such as self-parking and pre-safe systems.

OK so if you wanna know how these things will work, they will operate on sensors in the wheels to detect when a car might go into an out-of-control skid, and then they use Auto Braking System (ABS) and engine management to keep the car on the road. This can be an upside because unlike error prone humans these technologies can apply the brakes and increase or decrease power to individual wheels, which is often better than brakes or power being applied to all four wheels by a human foot mashing the brake pedal in a blind panic.

Evidently, a major advantage of these cars is that they will prevent road accidents and "prepare the car to keep the occupants safe." So here's what happens in the unlikely event of an 'almost collision; according to the article, in a car with a pre-safe system, an alarm might goes off as you near the obstruction. The pre-safe system starts priming the brakes so that just touching the pedal will apply their full force.The car then reduces engine power, which will slow the car and reduce the severity of the crash, if there is one to come.Additionally, if the system detects that a crash can't be avoided, it'll prepare the airbags for deployment and tighten all of the seat belts, all of which is done in less time than it would take a driver to slam on the brakes.

Another great feature of these cars will be the automatic parking systems, of course this is already available in some cars like the Audi RS7 Sportback SUV among othe compact cars and hybrids.The car reads  the area around it, reacting accordingly and going safely from point A to point B.

I could go on forever about these driverless cars, but time and space doesn't permit me. While some may argue that robots are taking over I believe at some point that prediction is inevitable. I think this would be a great and most wanted technology especially since it does all the work for the humans. A plus is that it is ingenuity deeply oriented in user safety. Not to mention that this could mean less or no hassle to get and pay for drivers license, we may be able to sleep or do other task on the road without running the risk of car accidents or being ticketed by the cops, oh the endless possibilities... Technology is on a roll and is showing no signs of slowing down anytime soon; and if you cant beat them, then join them.

The question however remains, how soon will these things be coming to our part of the world ? I have read that they are scheduled to be release in the UK sometime in 2015. What about you, would you like to own one of these ? Do you think they can be efficient in terms of the safety features ? Would you let your car drive itself ?

Let me Know !

Source Link : http://auto.howstuffworks.com/under-the-hood/trends-innovations/driverless-car.htm