Data In the Autonomous Car Industry

            For decades, little change had been made in the Automotive industry. When a forward thinking cast including Elon musk founded tesla, the foundation had been had been set to disrupt the industry - but in more ways than immediately seem apparent. Yes, Tesla was an electric car company, many of which had been founded to cease existence in just a few short years, but it only took about a decade for the company to begin developing self-driving capabilities. Although Tesla is not the first company to venture into this endeavor, they are the first car manufacturer to streamline the process. That said, the other companies such as google, that are working on the same venture, don't manufacture vehicles as well.

Creating electric cars is a praiseworthy feat itself, but the self-driving capabilities may be the more revolutionary field. Although we all like to believe we are the best drivers on the road, being human does limit our reaction times, but we need to make quick decisions under moments of high pressure and stress, for example moments before a potential accident. A computer making decisions in this moment is not subject to err in the same way. Besides this, drivers are becoming distracted more every day- in the ways that computers are not.

Self-driving technologies are driven by data. Tesla vehicles are equipped with cameras that instantly collect data that is analyzed to make decisions, specifically when in auto-pilot mode. These computerized decisions are significantly better drivers than humans. They take into account things such as vehicles and their proximity, the speed limit in any given area, the lines on both sides of the road, any curves in the road, and so on. This allows the driver to sit back (though hands are required to be on the wheels periodically) and allow the car to drive itself.

In just a few years, human-driven cars may be a thing of the past. Due to a number of companies desires to enrich the human experience – essentially finding a way to turn information about the surroundings of a car at an instantaneous rate into information – an industry is being revolutionized. This is something truly phenomenon; using data, simply capturing information from environment around to safely drive a vehicle. There have already been videos of the cars braking seconds before any human driver would have and prevented accidents because of this. In addition to improving the technology, the next step is making it more accessible. With the launch of the Tesla Model 3 in 2018, a car with this technology will be much more available since the car will cost around 30k. To this point, all of Tesla’s vehicles will cost a buyer close to six figures, so this is clearly a substantial difference. As Tesla then leads the technology curve, it is clear that other automotive companies will quickly follow in integrating fully-autonomous software into their newest vehicles. Though it sounds ambitious, the change can overtake the industry faster than we may imagine.

Beyond the luxury of being able to relax as the car drives itself in front of you, as earlier stated, this can truly enhance the human experience. It seems like every day we drive by a car accident on our commutes to work – which incur injuries and costs that are never convenient. Although this technology will never be able to full prevent that, it will surely decrease the number of accidents, making driving a safer activity overall. As an activity that we all take part in on a daily basis, being able to drive safer will do more than just have safer roads - it will eventually be able to expand lifespans of all of us. Though these are bold predictions, the technology and people backing them will be working diligently until they become a reality.

https://www.wired.com/2017/01/teslas-new-autopilot-may-seem-lame-critical-reboot/