There is now automation and artificial intelligence integration in almost everything, which includes the manufacturing of the regular vehicles that we drive around today.
Our smartphones have AI assistants embedded in them, and in large automobile manufacturing facilities, AI-assisted robotic arms are putting together cars with pinpoint precision and at unprecedented speeds that human hands could not have ever achieved.
However, none of those integrations and functions of artificial intelligence go beyond a controlled environment or device, barring military applications, of course.
Autonomous vehicles seek to transcend that boundary and enter the real world of civilians by taking over one of the most dangerous but common activities in modern civilization, which is, of course, the act of driving a car.
As is to be expected, this poses a huge number of challenges for the manufacturers, which cannot even be surmised without expanding the limits of this article. Understandably, governments around the world might not immediately be enthusiastic about driverless cars on their roads as some of the possible mishaps are all too obvious to miss, even if you do not have an MSECE degree!
How Big is the Business and How Far Along is the Industry?
As of now, the autonomous vehicle industry is worth $54.23 billion and it is estimated that by the year 2026, the total value of the business will be around $556.67 billion! Manufacturers have been running successful trial drives around the country for years now, and even in some populated cities, to perfect the sensors and the core technology that’s making these cars go around on their own, without injuring anyone in the process.
Alongside the tremendous growth that we are about to see in the autonomous vehicle industry, there is currently a huge demand for qualified engineers that have specialized knowledge in the field of AI-driven cars, so that autonomous vehicles can be perfected and finally introduced on the roads.
To get an MSECE degree from Kettering University would mean opening the doors for new engineering talents to not just work in modern automobile engineering, but on building the future of the automobile industry itself. Artificial Intelligence for Autonomous Driving and Machine Drives for Electric Vehicles are two of the highlighted courses in the program, which clearly conveys the fact that Kettering University’s MS Engineering-ECE-Advanced Mobility is designed to prepare engineering students to assist in the final development and refining of autonomous vehicles. For those looking to get an MSECE degree from Kettering University, you should visit the University website and find out more about the entire program and how a degree like that can land you a job in the sector that’s going to pay $300,000/year or more!
The Fear of Autonomous Vehicles
There is a lot of apprehensions, misunderstanding, and even some debatable reasons to worry about AI-driven cars at the moment, but the pros of having autonomous cars on real roads outweigh the cons by a significant margin. It remains to be seen when the likes of Waymo, GM, and Ford are able to bring the future to the present anytime soon, but a look at why we really need self-driving cars will help in clearing up confusion and fears regarding the subject.
Making Roads Safer
One of the biggest fears regarding autonomous vehicles is actually the main reason why they are being made in the first place.
People worry about not having control over their own cars and the AI stupidly leading them into an accident or making them fall off a cliff! That, however, is quite unlikely, if not impossible at this time and even more so in the future. If anything, a human driver has a significantly higher chance of doing the same than an autonomous vehicle. Besides, the human driver can take over anytime he/she chooses to, which is another fact that people forget about.
While imagining self-driving cars running on our roads, it is to be remembered that they cut out the human error factor. Thanks to the advanced sensors, years of machine learning and updates to the AI’s directive codes, autonomous cars can now react faster than a human ever can and save the passengers and pedestrians from accidents that would be impossible to avoid for even the world’s best human driver.
The Analytical Ability of the AI Almost Enables them to See the Future!
The application of artificial intelligence to get surprisingly accurate predictions about the market’s future is not unknown in 2019, and most big businesses rely on such predictions to plan their future moves.
The same analytical ability of the artificial intelligence driving the autonomous cars also enables them to potentially predict an accident-prone situation even before it happens, and take adequate measures to avoid it completely, saving lives and property loss in the process. That is an incredible advantage to have and it almost seems fantastical, but it’s nothing but the pure truth.
The Human Flaw Factor
As humans, we are all flawed to some degree and while that’s what makes us human, all the philosophy doesn’t bode well when someone decides to drink and drive, or drive under the influence of medication or drugs.
The NHTSA has produced facts which show roughly 30-people die every single day in the United States alone, due to drunk driving. The worst year for property damage due to drunk driving was the year 2010 when $44 billion was lost in property damage due to this oh-so-human folly!
The AI driving autonomous cars cannot drink, take drugs, suffer a heart attack or a stroke while driving, do not look at their smartphones and are incapable of being distracted by anything at all.
There is just no comparison here, to be honest and it is indeed a situation where the creation has surpassed the creator. Autonomous cars are indeed the future and they are going to make the roads a lot safer; the only real question is, when will they be ready enough to be put on real roads?
