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Self-Driving Car
Article by: Jianfeng Zhao & Bodong Liang, School of Automotive and Transportation Engineering,
Shenzhen Polytechnic, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
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Technology that can safely
drive humans or goods to their
destination without, or with
less, human operation. Automat-
ed driving systems for cars, trucks,
and buses will eventually be able
to sense the environment and
make human-like decisions, using
an onboard computer, sensors,
and communication with a data
center or roadway. This article will
focus on self-driving cars (Fig. 1).
+
ward
'
s
science
Content
• Key technologies of
automated driving
- Navigation
- Environment perception
- Vehicle control
- Path planning
• Issues and impacts
Key Concepts
• Automated driving systems — sometimes referred to as autonomous, intelligent,
driverless, or self-driving vehicles — are capable of monitoring the road environment
using onboard sensors to provide inputs to software that automatically plans the
driving route and controls the vehicle as it moves toward a predetermined destination.
• The key technologies of automated driving are navigation, environment perception,
vehicle control, and path planning.
• In addition to technical issues, some legal, regulatory, and ethical issues need to be
considered for the commercialization of automated driving systems.
• The development of automated driving will most likely be realized in a gradual way
and, once realized, is expected to have a profound impact on human society.
Fig. 1: The key technologies of a self-driving car.
The levels of driving automation as defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International are listed in the table.
If the classification is level 3 or higher, then the system is considered an automated driving system.
