They can’t handle complex situations.

Here’s another truth about self-driving vehicles: they can’t handle complex situations. Like, at all. They aren’t there yet, but they will be someday soon. Situations that a human driver would have no problem dealing with are still very difficult for self-driving cars to handle.

For example, merging onto a busy highway is hard for self-driving cars because they have to judge the speed of other drivers and time their own acceleration perfectly. Or let’s say that you try to back out of a parking spot but there’s someone waiting in your blind spot. A human would be able to see them if they checked their mirrors and did a shoulder check, but the car has no way of knowing that those things exist or what kind of information is available from them.

They can’t read road signs.

The technology that enables a car to drive itself centers on a complex system of sensors, cameras, and radar. With this setup, the car can detect its surroundings and objects in it. By combining sensor data with mapping software, the car can determine where it is in relation to its destination, and how to get there.

Self-driving cars are pretty good at identifying objects like other cars and pedestrians—but they still can’t read road signs. Road signs are flat 2D images that aren’t very useful to self-driving cars since they don’t provide distance or depth information about the environment. And even if a self-driving car can read a sign correctly, it might not understand what it means. For example, how does a self-driving car process an ambiguous sign like “No Trucks Allowed”? Even simple things like “Do Not Enter” have alternative meanings that only apply in certain situations (for example, when you’re entering a one way street).

They could be hacked.

Take a deep breath: self-driving cars could be hacked. The idea of that happening certainly isn’t a pleasant one, but this is a reality we have to face.

Hackers could potentially wreak havoc with the software in automated vehicles, taking over and causing loads of problems.

That being said, there are ways to prevent this from happening. Hackers are constantly trying to get their way into software programs, but they’re not very good at it. They can only do damage if they succeed in getting inside the system and messing around with it; if the code is well written and secure, then there isn’t much for them to do except look at some numbers on a webpage (shiver).

You won’t own one for a long time.

You’ll probably have to wait a while before you can buy an autonomous car. While some luxury manufacturers like BMW and Audi do offer semi-autonomous features like lane assist and automatic braking, fully self-driving cars aren’t slated for widespread release until sometime in the 2020s.

Despite that fact that self-driving technology has been around for decades, it’s only recently that we’ve seen cars driving with no human input at all. This is partly because the research into driverless cars is still fairly new, but also because the public hasn’t been ready to use them yet. People today are comfortable — often too comfortable — behind the wheel of their vehicle and they’re not ready to give up control of their vehicles just yet.

That may change soon though as more people test out autonomous cars from companies like Uber or Waymo (Google’s self-driving car subsidiary). These companies are currently testing their self-driving vehicles on public roads in select cities across the country, and even though they still require a “safety driver” in case something goes wrong, they indicate what our roadways will look like within a few years time.

They will dramatically reduce car accidents.

One of the most exciting things about self-driving cars is that they will dramatically reduce car accidents. Over 90% of collisions are caused by human error, so it’s reasonable to assume that autonomous vehicles will have a similar effect on car accidents as self-parking has had on parking accidents.

Self-driving cars are better than humans at detecting objects. Because they can see in all directions at all times, they can drive more defensively and avoid dangerous situations before they happen. Some of the features that enable this include cameras with 360 degree vision, radar sensors, ultrasonic sensors and lidar (a type of radar that uses light instead of radio waves).

Self driving cars are the future, but there are limitations and risks to them.

The future of cars will be focused on a change in the way people drive, but there are limitations and risks to self driving cars. Over the coming years, it is expected that self-driving vehicles will become more advanced and safer.

Self-driving technology has the potential to make our roads safer by reducing accidents caused by human error, but this technology is not error free. Before any new driverless car can hit the road, companies must find solutions to many technical challenges and legal issues.

While some car manufacturers already have started implementing automated systems into their vehicles, true autonomous cars are still being tested and developed by carmakers worldwide. Self driving cars could be here sooner than we think.They can’t handle complex situations.

Here’s another truth about self-driving vehicles: they can’t handle complex situations. Like, at all. They aren’t there yet, but they will be someday soon. Situations that a human driver would have no problem dealing with are still very difficult for self-driving cars to handle.

For example, merging onto a busy highway is hard for self-driving cars because they have to judge the speed of other drivers and time their own acceleration perfectly. Or let’s say that you try to back out of a parking spot but there’s someone waiting in your blind spot. A human would be able to see them if they checked their mirrors and did a shoulder check, but the car has no way of knowing that those things exist or what kind of information is available from them.

They can’t read road signs.

The technology that enables a car to drive itself centers on a complex system of sensors, cameras, and radar. With this setup, the car can detect its surroundings and objects in it. By combining sensor data with mapping software, the car can determine where it is in relation to its destination, and how to get there.

Self-driving cars are pretty good at identifying objects like other cars and pedestrians—but they still can’t read road signs. Road signs are flat 2D images that aren’t very useful to self-driving cars since they don’t provide distance or depth information about the environment. And even if a self-driving car can read a sign correctly, it might not understand what it means. For example, how does a self-driving car process an ambiguous sign like “No Trucks Allowed”? Even simple things like “Do Not Enter” have alternative meanings that only apply in certain situations (for example, when you’re entering a one way street).

They could be hacked.

Take a deep breath: self-driving cars could be hacked. The idea of that happening certainly isn’t a pleasant one, but this is a reality we have to face.

Hackers could potentially wreak havoc with the software in automated vehicles, taking over and causing loads of problems.

That being said, there are ways to prevent this from happening. Hackers are constantly trying to get their way into software programs, but they’re not very good at it. They can only do damage if they succeed in getting inside the system and messing around with it; if the code is well written and secure, then there isn’t much for them to do except look at some numbers on a webpage (shiver).

You won’t own one for a long time.

You’ll probably have to wait a while before you can buy an autonomous car. While some luxury manufacturers like BMW and Audi do offer semi-autonomous features like lane assist and automatic braking, fully self-driving cars aren’t slated for widespread release until sometime in the 2020s.

Despite that fact that self-driving technology has been around for decades, it’s only recently that we’ve seen cars driving with no human input at all. This is partly because the research into driverless cars is still fairly new, but also because the public hasn’t been ready to use them yet. People today are comfortable — often too comfortable — behind the wheel of their vehicle and they’re not ready to give up control of their vehicles just yet.

That may change soon though as more people test out autonomous cars from companies like Uber or Waymo (Google’s self-driving car subsidiary). These companies are currently testing their self-driving vehicles on public roads in select cities across the country, and even though they still require a “safety driver” in case something goes wrong, they indicate what our roadways will look like within a few years time.

They will dramatically reduce car accidents.

One of the most exciting things about self-driving cars is that they will dramatically reduce car accidents. Over 90% of collisions are caused by human error, so it’s reasonable to assume that autonomous vehicles will have a similar effect on car accidents as self-parking has had on parking accidents.

Self-driving cars are better than humans at detecting objects. Because they can see in all directions at all times, they can drive more defensively and avoid dangerous situations before they happen. Some of the features that enable this include cameras with 360 degree vision, radar sensors, ultrasonic sensors and lidar (a type of radar that uses light instead of radio waves).

Self driving cars are the future, but there are limitations and risks to them.

The future of cars will be focused on a change in the way people drive, but there are limitations and risks to self driving cars. Over the coming years, it is expected that self-driving vehicles will become more advanced and safer.

Self-driving technology has the potential to make our roads safer by reducing accidents caused by human error, but this technology is not error free. Before any new driverless car can hit the road, companies must find solutions to many technical challenges and legal issues.

While some car manufacturers already have started implementing automated systems into their vehicles, true autonomous cars are still being tested and developed by carmakers worldwide. Self driving cars could be here sooner than we think.