Self-driving cars are becoming more common day by day. Learn how they work and how they “see” the world, for example.
How Do Autonomous (Self-Driving) Cars Work?
Self-driving cars are no longer produced by Tesla alone: almost every manufacturer uses technologies that can make a certain level of self-determination and offer autonomous driving when necessary. It seems fully autonomous self-driving electric cars will be standard worldwide shortly. Behind this are impressive technologies such as machine learning and AI. The potential offered by these technologies can be used even on sites such as South-korea-bonusesfinder.com. So, how exactly does this happen, and how do self-driving cars work? We answer these questions below.
A Car Filled with Sensors
First of all, let’s mention that self-driving cars are full of sensors. The task of these sensors is to monitor the environment and collect information continuously. In this context, two types of sensors are used:
- Radar: These sensors use radio waves. Radar data is used to detect size and speed.
- Lidar: These sensors use laser light pulses. Lidar data is used to identify objects. So, for example, whether a person or a dog is on the road is determined by lidar data.
Self-driving cars also have an array of cameras, and the data from them is used to read road signs and other traffic markings. However, all these sensors and cameras are only used to collect data. Machine learning processes the data they collect and decides what the car should do.
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Your Car Is a Computer
Every self-driving car has a computer system that processes data collected by sensors & cameras and creates various inputs. This is the most critical difference between the capabilities of self-driving cars: the features of the software used to determine how successful the vehicle will be in autonomous driving. Because Tesla is one of the pioneers in the industry and has collected more data so far, it can use more advanced software: that’s why it’s more successful with self-driving cars. However, other brands are catching up quickly.
The computer system in the car creates a navigation route using the collected data and sends the appropriate commands to the brake & gas systems of the vehicle. For example, it uses the data it collects from the camera to determine speed limits and the radar data to determine its speed. On the other hand, Lidar data is used for environmental awareness, and, for example, the distance to the car in front is determined in this way. The system can do all these calculations in a split second and make decisions much faster than a human: when it hits the brakes for you, you can be sure it will do it much quicker than you.
Soon, this will become even easier. As the number of self-driving cars increases, they will make faster decisions by communicating with each other. Likewise, traffic lights are planned to send data directly to self-driving cars. These improvements will make traffic run much more efficient and safer for drivers and pedestrians alike.