You may have heard a few luxury auto manufacturers are making optimistic claims to release the first fully autonomous vehicle in the next year or two.
Who is in the Running?
Elon Musk claims Tesla will successfully manufacture first fully autonomous vehicle in 2018. He expresses that he is confident with Tesla’s progress, and that is more of a matter of its model successfully operating in robust array of circumstances.
BMW Group has partnered with Intel and Mobileye to produce its first driverless vehicle in 2017. BMW proposes to churn out level 3 to level 5 automated cars to multiple dealers.
Volvo plans for their fully autonomous model to reach the streets in 2018. Their goal is to begin trials with semi autonomous cars that will track the human driving experience to aid the driverless maneuvers.
What is Holding Them Back?
The main setback is navigating left turns. In most simulations, the fully autonomous vehicle waited a significantly longer amount of time to cross traffic than a human driver has the patience for. Drivers take more risks, crossing through shorter breaks in traffic than a robot can justify. A smaller setback is human-directed traffic such as police guards guiding traffic after an event. However, technology can overcome with more cameras and sensors.
Who will be the Victor?
It will be exciting to watch the manufacturers race for the first fully autonomous car. D&M Auto Leasing especially looks forward to being the first to lease it.