How AI is Steering the Future of Self-Driving Cars?

The advancements in artificial intelligence have paved the way for revolutionary changes in various industries and the one sector that has witnessed significant transformation is the transportation industry. 

The emergence of autonomous vehicles and advanced driving assistance systems integrated with AI solutions has reshaped the perspective on commuting with a promise of enhanced safety, efficiency, and convenience. 

At the heart of this transformation lies the AI technologies into vehicles, further enabling them to perceive, reason, and make informed decisions, just like human drivers. By combining sensors and powerful computing systems, AI algorithms can process vast amounts of data in real time, allowing autonomous vehicles to navigate roads, and react to dynamic conditions. 

In this blog, we will dig deeper into the multifaceted role of AI in self-driving cars and explore the underlying technologies, challenges, and the future of transportation. 

The Role of AI in Self-driving Car

With the adoption of AI in self-driving cars, the transformation in the automotive industry has become indispensable. Self-driving vehicles can adapt to changing road conditions, and traffic scenarios with the help of machine learning solutions, further making driving more convenient, secure, and productive.

AI in self-driving cars is leveraged by the manufacturers for various crucial functions, including:

• Decision Making

The first and foremost use of AI in self-driving cars is on-spot and precise decision-making. This is done based on real-time sensor data. 

• Sensing and Perception

Self-driving cars depend on a vast range of sensors that help them generate detailed environmental maps and make informed decisions. 

• Natural Language Processing

Some of the advanced self-driving cars use voice recognition to interact with passengers by using natural language processing services. This AI technology responds to the spoken commands on the maps and detects relevant objects such as traffic lights and road signs. 

• Predictive Modelling

With the help of predictive analytics, self-driving vehicles can anticipate the actions of pedestrians, help prevent accidents, and divert them toward a more convenient route. 

Key Features of AI in Autonomous Car

Several features of AI in autonomous vehicles help enhance their operational efficiency, improve braking and acceleration, and optimize routing to manage fuel consumption. Below are some of the notable features of autonomous driving cars powered by AI. 

• Sensor Data Processing

Algorithms like artificial neural networks help in detecting and identifying objects ahead and around self-driving cars.

• Path Planning

This feature helps in pre-scanning and predicting the pathways of yet-to-be-reached destinations using its vast resources of data collation. 

• Path Execution

It defines each movement that is taken by the cars to switch lanes, accelerate, implement parking commands, and prevent collisions, among others. 

• Navigation

AI in self-driving cars collects real-time road information that can be used by the driver for navigation and to help them make informed decisions.

• Connected Cars

AI in self-driving cars enables different vehicles to connect with each other and collect real-time information when on the road further increasing road and cabin safety.

• Autonomous Driving 

AI accompanied by ML and deep learning promotes autonomous driving that relies on the information from sensors and cameras to navigate cars.

• Behavior Prediction

Behavior prediction is another AI algorithm that uses data from sensors, cameras, and other sources to predict the behavior of other vehicles, and pedestrians on the road.

• Object Recognition

This feature of AI in self-driving cars allows car sensors and cameras to identify and classify different objects on the road, such as traffic signals, vehicles, and other objects.

• Feature Extraction

The feature of AI in self-driving cars can be applied to extract information from the images or sensor data captured by the vehicle to elevate decision-making.

• Processing Sensor Data

Self-driving cars use a variety of sensors to collect data about their surroundings, such as cameras, lidar, radar, and ultrasonic sensors.

• Convolutional Neural Networks

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) used in AI autonomous vehicles replace the traditional computer vision algorithms to analyze data and make informed decisions based on that.

• Reinforcement Learning

It is a type of machine learning technique that enables a self-driving car to explore and interact with the dynamic environment and make decisions based on the data attained by experiences.

Pros and Cons of AI in Self-Driving Cars

Like any other technology, the utilization of AI can pose both benefits and drawbacks, especially when it comes to autonomous vehicle technology. Below are some of the notable autonomous cars pros and cons that must be considered before investing in AI for autonomous vehicles.

• Pros of Using AI in Self-Driving Cars

Reduced Traffic Congestion

AI in self-driving cars enables vehicles to drive closely together at consistent speeds, further enhancing traffic efficiency and reducing bottlenecks. 

Improved Safety

Leveraging advanced automotive software development services along with AI in self-driving cars enhances overall road safety.

Notably, self-driving car safety is the top priority of the manufacturers, and incorporating advanced technology like AI is making autonomous vehicles safer. By prioritizing autonomous vehicle safety, it helps reduce the number of accidents caused by human error.

Enhanced Accessibility

The self-driving car benefits are that it has the potential to make transportation accessible to those who cannot drive, including people with disabilities, the elderly, and those who are too young to do so. 

Productivity and Convenience

Passengers in self-driving cars have more time and freedom during their rides. The combination of AI and self-driving cars facilitates them to use the travel time for work, leisure, or relaxation instead of focusing on driving. 

Efficiency and Energy Saving

Artificial intelligence in self-driving cars enables them to operate more efficiently, further optimizing acceleration, braking, and routing to reduce fuel consumption. 

AI for autonomous vehicles also facilitates eco-friendly driving strategies, further contributing to reduced greenhouse gas emissions and energy savings.

• Cons

Scalability and Infrastructure Adaptation

One of the major challenges of integrating AI in self-driving cars is the significant investment and infrastructure adjustments needed to scale autonomous vehicle development from prototypes to mass production. 

Data Security and Privacy Concerns

As vehicles become more connected and data-driven, they are more vulnerable to potential cyberattacks that could compromise individual’s privacy and public safety. 

Regulatory and Legal Issues

The regulations for autonomous vehicles vary from country to country making it difficult for companies to deploy self-driving cars internationally. 

Prominent Examples of AI in Self-Driving Cars

The below-mentioned brands have successfully implemented AI in self-driving cars to further enhance the role of AI in transportation and improve user experience:

• Waymo

The AI-based self-driving system in Google’s Waymo demonstrates intelligent reactions to complex route planning. Waymo, with an integration of advanced technology like AI, has become a front-runner in the field of driverless car technology. 

• Tesla Autopilot

Source: Tesla

Tesla utilizes sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithms, which help it with impressive decision-making skills and accurate control. The affordable Tesla supercharger cost has also made it one of the most convenient modes of transportation among users looking for sustainable options. 

• Cruise

Source: Cruise

Cruise is a self-driving car company that is owned by General Motors and is one of the significant self-driving cars examples. The Cruise AV uses Lidar, radar, and camera sensors, making 40% of the hardware unique to self-driving. 

• NVIDIA

Source: NVIDIA

NVIDIA is known to design a range of AI computing platforms for the automotive sector. Being one of the significant examples of AI in self-driving cars, the company’s drive platform is an example of the successful integration of advanced functionalities. 

The Futuristic Trends of AI in Self-Driving Cars

​​Self-driving cars are gaining widespread prominence among prestigious brands. Considering this, there is no doubt that the adoption of technologies such as AI and ML makes these autonomous AI cars the future of the automotive industry.

Below are some of the future-specific trends of AI in self-driving cars.

• Enhancing Connectivity with 5G

With the combined power of 5G connectivity and AI, self-driving cars offer an optimal driving experience with seamless internet connectivity. 

• Improving Safety with ML Algorithms

With advanced ML-based systems, self-driving cars will continuously learn from the vast datasets to detect traffic behavior and predict potential threats to enhance safety. 

• Increasing Personalization in Vehicle Experience

Companies like Porsche offer a unique personalized functionality known as “Recommended Engine”. This system suggests vehicle packages based on the preferences of drivers. 

• Transcending Limitations with AI Suggestions

AI-based intelligent systems can now recommend ideal perceptions on the body parts, engine, and design of the AI autonomous vehicles.

• Elevating Support with Semiconductors and OEM-based AI chips

Semiconductors in automobiles are already revolutionizing the automotive sector. By collaborating with AI in self-driving cars, these semiconductor and OEM-based AI chips can better support autonomous driving systems and cruise control.

The Role of Advanced AI Algorithms in Self-Driving Cars

Both supervised learning and unsupervised learning are utilized for self-driving vehicles:

• Supervised Learning

It is a type of machine learning in which a model is trained on a labeled dataset, which means that the data has been labeled with the correct output. The goal of supervised learning is to learn a function that maps inputs to outputs based on the labeled data. In supervised learning, there are the following approaches:

1. Modeling: Supervised learning algorithms can be used to train a model to predict the likelihood of certain events occurring in the environment. This could be used, for example, to predict the likelihood that a pedestrian will cross the road at a particular location, or to predict the likelihood that another vehicle will make a sudden lane change.

1. Object Recognition: For AI in self-driving cars, supervised learning algorithms are used to train a model to recognize the objects in the data collected by the self-driving car’s sensors. 
2. Behavior Prediction: Supervised learning helps in predicting the behavior of other road users, such as pedestrians and other vehicles. 

• Unsupervised Learning

Unsupervised learning is a type of machine learning in which a model is trained on an unlabeled dataset. It means that the data is not labeled with the correct output. The goal of unsupervised learning is to discover patterns or relationships in the data, rather than to predict a specific output. 

Self-driving cars use this form of learning in various functions, such as:

1. Clustering: Unsupervised learning algorithms can be used to cluster data collected by an autonomous car’s sensors, grouping similar data points. 
2. Anomaly Detection: This form of algorithm can be used to identify unusual and unexpected events in the data collected by a self-driving car’s sensors. 
3. Feature Extraction: Unsupervised learning algorithms are used to extract features from the data collected by a self-driving car’s sensors. 

How Do Self-Driving Cars Make Decisions?

Developers of self-driving cars integrate advanced AI technologies to power the car systems and use vast amounts of data from image recognition systems, along with machine learning and neural networks, to build systems that can work autonomously.

The neural networks help in identifying patterns in the data, which are then fed to the machine-learning algorithms. The data includes the images from the cameras on the self-driving cars from which the neural network learns to identify trees, traffic lights, and other parts of any given environment. 

The working of self-driving cars can be learned from the example of Google’s self-driving car project, called Waymo. The vehicle uses a mix of sensors, lidar, and cameras and combines all of the data that those systems generate to identify everything around the vehicle.

Source: Waymo 

The points further explain how Google’s Waymo vehicle works:

1. The driver or the passenger sets the destination and the car’s software calculates the route. 
2. A rotating, roof-mounted Lidar (Light detection and Ranging) sensor monitors a 60-meter range around the car and creates a dynamic three-dimensional map of the car’s current environment. 
3. A sensor on the left rear wheel monitors sideways movement to detect the car’s position relative to the 3D map. 
4. Radar systems in the front and the rear bumpers calculate the distances to the obstacles. 
5. AI in self-driving cars is connected to all the sensors and collects inputs from the Google Street View and video cameras inside the car. 
6. The AI simulates human perceptual and decision-making processes using deep learning and controls actions in the driver control systems, such as brakes and steering. 
7. The car’s software consults with Google Maps for advance notice of things like traffic signals, landmarks, and lights.

How Far Can AI Drive Autonomous Cars?

For any car to become autonomous, it’s imperative to be constantly aware of its surroundings. That’s where AI comes into the picture — helping perceive traffic data and making informed decisions based on the processed information.

However, for autonomous driving cars to become truly capable of driving without human intervention, consistent and advanced AI training is essential. Also, with extensive computational performance, high-level autonomous vehicle sensors, and extensive memory storage, AI in self-driving cars can significantly transform the future of the automotive sector.

Transform Your Automotive Business With the Expertise of Appventurez

Autonomous driving cars are facilitating a revolutionary change in the automotive industry. This transformation is further boosted by the incorporation of the core technology behind self-driving cars — Artificial Intelligence.

Integrating advanced technologies, such as ML and AI algorithms brings a fundamental shift in vehicle safety, efficiency, and user experience. However, implementing AI in self-driving cars is cumbersome, and a proficient AI development company would be needed to make the process seamless.

Appventurez, as your trusted partner will help you explore the potential of self-driving cars, further providing your automotive business with continuous advancement and groundbreaking innovations. 

Our cutting-edge AI solutions will drive technological excellence and result in increased revenue growth and user engagement. Our AI experts even have a proven track record of developing robust software solutions powered by AI. Some of the prominent names include:

Gribb — An app to modernize fleet management and improve the overall driving experience in the Netherlands.

Moove — A robust logistics app portal that helps streamline transportation with an expert fleet management system.