Autonomous cars are vehicles that can drive themselves without a human driver.

Before we dive into the details of how autonomous cars operate and what makes them tick, let’s clarify exactly what an autonomous car is. An autonomous car is a vehicle that can drive itself without a human driver.

Autonomous cars are different from regular cars in their ability to navigate on their own, with the help of sophisticated technology, as well as artificial intelligence (AI). These vehicles are outfitted with various smart devices such as radars and GPS systems that allow them to detect any obstacles or hazards on the road. While being driven by a human, these devices collect data about the surrounding environment and keep updating it, so that they can be used when there’s no driver behind the wheel. Once you put your autonomous car on autopilot mode, AI algorithms start controlling its driving behavior depending on this data. What makes these cars truly special is not only their ability to operate without a driver but also their ability to learn from experience and improve upon it over time.

The technology that makes this possible includes GPS, radar and cameras.

You’ve probably heard of GPS and radar, but how about Lidar and ultrasound? These sensors give autonomous cars their power to see the world around them, which is critical if they’re going to move safely through traffic.

All autonomous cars are equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers. GPS uses a constellation of 24 Earth-orbiting satellites that constantly send out radio signals. The signal includes each satellite’s exact location at any given time along with the current date and time. A GPS receiver captures these radio signals and uses trilateration to determine its own location on Earth from those of at least three satellites. Trilateration is a mathematical process involving three spheres of known distances from a fixed point to calculate the point where those spheres intersect [source: U.S. Department of Defense]. By using data from four or more satellites, a GPS receiver can also determine altitude, speed and direction [source: Sobel]. You may have noticed that you have to be outside for your phone or car’s built-in navigation system to really work, because it relies on accessing satellite signals. Autonomous car makers are developing indoor mapping technology that will allow their vehicles to operate in parking garages or other spaces where GPS signals don’t reach [sources: Davison; McNish].

Self-driving cars have been in development for decades.

While Tesla’s Autopilot is an impressive system, it’s not a fully autonomous driving system. In fact, fully autonomous vehicles are still in development and aren’t expected to be available until at least 2020.

A handful of car companies are in the process of testing fully autonomous vehicles on public roads. These cars use detailed maps (think: Google Maps with an extra layer of detail) to tell the vehicle where it can go, as well as how fast it can safely drive and when it needs to slow down or stop—all without any input from a human driver.

While we’re still a few years out from seeing these vehicles on the road, Audi has announced that its 2019 A8 sedan will be the first vehicle capable of Level 3 automation—meaning you’ll be able to take your hands off the wheel while driving under certain conditions

The legal and insurance issues surrounding self-driving cars are still being worked out.

The legal and insurance issues surrounding self-driving cars are still being worked out.

Who’s responsible if an autonomous car gets in an accident? Will your insurance premium go up when you’re not the one driving? And, conversely, will it go down because autonomous cars are safer than human-driven ones? These questions will take time to answer. A lot of states have begun passing laws that allow for testing of self-driving cars on public roads. Those laws could also establish certain liability rules or guidelines for how insurance should work with these vehicles.

Current data suggests that autonomous cars will be safer than human drivers.

Autonomous vehicles have the potential to be here sooner than anyone might have imagined. According to a recent study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, “There’s a lot of potential for driverless car technology to make our roads safer and reduce both deaths and injuries.”

Rather than being a threat, autonomous cars will likely decrease injuries and fatalities. That said, it was only recently that Google announced that they would be testing their self-driving cars on public streets in California. While this is a step toward full autonomy, these cars are still equipped with human drivers as supervisors who control them at all times. We may be closer to fully automated vehicles than we think!

If you want to own one, you might have to wait a while.

As these cars get smarter, the roads on which they drive will need to be smart, too. And while we can’t know for sure when those changes will take place, it’s safe to say that there are still a few years before you’ll be able to buy an autonomous car. How many years will depend on where you live.

In some countries and states, autonomous cars are already legal. The US state of Nevada has passed laws permitting their use on public roads, and Google has received permission to test its own driverless cars in California. But although the technology is available now, it won’t necessarily be legal everywhere for some time yet — think about all the new road signs needed! That means that even if you want one badly enough to fork out $100,000 or more for a car from Audi or Mercedes-Benz (which both have announced plans for fully self-driving vehicles), you might have trouble using it on your usual commute until your local government passes regulations allowing them on the road.

But they’re already on the road.

By now, you’ve probably heard about the existence and development of autonomous cars. In fact, chances are that you’ve seen one in action—maybe even on your own city streets. A number of companies have already begun testing autonomous cars or made them available to the public, including Tesla (who’s currently testing an autopilot mode), Nissan (who is in the process of developing an experimental version), Volvo (who recently launched their first line of self-driving vehicles), and Google (whose self-driving car has been clocking miles since 2012). These autonomous car prototypes and models can be found on a variety of roads across North America, but they’re currently most prominent in states like California, Florida and Michigan.

Experts predict that if we continue to pursue this technology at our current pace, it will only be a matter of time before fully operational self-driving cars become a common sight on American roadways. And although it might take us some time to get used to sharing the road with these driverless vehicles, their presence could benefit drivers across a number of industries.

Autonomous driving is an important technology of the future but there are still many kinks to work out before it’s widely available

Oops! Click Regenerate Content below to try generating this section again.Autonomous cars are vehicles that can drive themselves without a human driver.

Before we dive into the details of how autonomous cars operate and what makes them tick, let’s clarify exactly what an autonomous car is. An autonomous car is a vehicle that can drive itself without a human driver.

Autonomous cars are different from regular cars in their ability to navigate on their own, with the help of sophisticated technology, as well as artificial intelligence (AI). These vehicles are outfitted with various smart devices such as radars and GPS systems that allow them to detect any obstacles or hazards on the road. While being driven by a human, these devices collect data about the surrounding environment and keep updating it, so that they can be used when there’s no driver behind the wheel. Once you put your autonomous car on autopilot mode, AI algorithms start controlling its driving behavior depending on this data. What makes these cars truly special is not only their ability to operate without a driver but also their ability to learn from experience and improve upon it over time.

The technology that makes this possible includes GPS, radar and cameras.

You’ve probably heard of GPS and radar, but how about Lidar and ultrasound? These sensors give autonomous cars their power to see the world around them, which is critical if they’re going to move safely through traffic.

All autonomous cars are equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers. GPS uses a constellation of 24 Earth-orbiting satellites that constantly send out radio signals. The signal includes each satellite’s exact location at any given time along with the current date and time. A GPS receiver captures these radio signals and uses trilateration to determine its own location on Earth from those of at least three satellites. Trilateration is a mathematical process involving three spheres of known distances from a fixed point to calculate the point where those spheres intersect [source: U.S. Department of Defense]. By using data from four or more satellites, a GPS receiver can also determine altitude, speed and direction [source: Sobel]. You may have noticed that you have to be outside for your phone or car’s built-in navigation system to really work, because it relies on accessing satellite signals. Autonomous car makers are developing indoor mapping technology that will allow their vehicles to operate in parking garages or other spaces where GPS signals don’t reach [sources: Davison; McNish].

Self-driving cars have been in development for decades.

While Tesla’s Autopilot is an impressive system, it’s not a fully autonomous driving system. In fact, fully autonomous vehicles are still in development and aren’t expected to be available until at least 2020.

A handful of car companies are in the process of testing fully autonomous vehicles on public roads. These cars use detailed maps (think: Google Maps with an extra layer of detail) to tell the vehicle where it can go, as well as how fast it can safely drive and when it needs to slow down or stop—all without any input from a human driver.

While we’re still a few years out from seeing these vehicles on the road, Audi has announced that its 2019 A8 sedan will be the first vehicle capable of Level 3 automation—meaning you’ll be able to take your hands off the wheel while driving under certain conditions

The legal and insurance issues surrounding self-driving cars are still being worked out.

The legal and insurance issues surrounding self-driving cars are still being worked out.

Who’s responsible if an autonomous car gets in an accident? Will your insurance premium go up when you’re not the one driving? And, conversely, will it go down because autonomous cars are safer than human-driven ones? These questions will take time to answer. A lot of states have begun passing laws that allow for testing of self-driving cars on public roads. Those laws could also establish certain liability rules or guidelines for how insurance should work with these vehicles.

Current data suggests that autonomous cars will be safer than human drivers.

Autonomous vehicles have the potential to be here sooner than anyone might have imagined. According to a recent study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, “There’s a lot of potential for driverless car technology to make our roads safer and reduce both deaths and injuries.”

Rather than being a threat, autonomous cars will likely decrease injuries and fatalities. That said, it was only recently that Google announced that they would be testing their self-driving cars on public streets in California. While this is a step toward full autonomy, these cars are still equipped with human drivers as supervisors who control them at all times. We may be closer to fully automated vehicles than we think!

If you want to own one, you might have to wait a while.

As these cars get smarter, the roads on which they drive will need to be smart, too. And while we can’t know for sure when those changes will take place, it’s safe to say that there are still a few years before you’ll be able to buy an autonomous car. How many years will depend on where you live.

In some countries and states, autonomous cars are already legal. The US state of Nevada has passed laws permitting their use on public roads, and Google has received permission to test its own driverless cars in California. But although the technology is available now, it won’t necessarily be legal everywhere for some time yet — think about all the new road signs needed! That means that even if you want one badly enough to fork out $100,000 or more for a car from Audi or Mercedes-Benz (which both have announced plans for fully self-driving vehicles), you might have trouble using it on your usual commute until your local government passes regulations allowing them on the road.

But they’re already on the road.

By now, you’ve probably heard about the existence and development of autonomous cars. In fact, chances are that you’ve seen one in action—maybe even on your own city streets. A number of companies have already begun testing autonomous cars or made them available to the public, including Tesla (who’s currently testing an autopilot mode), Nissan (who is in the process of developing an experimental version), Volvo (who recently launched their first line of self-driving vehicles), and Google (whose self-driving car has been clocking miles since 2012). These autonomous car prototypes and models can be found on a variety of roads across North America, but they’re currently most prominent in states like California, Florida and Michigan.

Experts predict that if we continue to pursue this technology at our current pace, it will only be a matter of time before fully operational self-driving cars become a common sight on American roadways. And although it might take us some time to get used to sharing the road with these driverless vehicles, their presence could benefit drivers across a number of industries.

Autonomous driving is an important technology of the future but there are still many kinks to work out before it’s widely available

Oops! Click Regenerate Content below to try generating this section again.