Autonomous driving with Autonomoose
We have all had those moments when we are stuck in traffic in the morning and think, “If only I could be sleeping right now”, or “ I’m wasting so much time when I could be productive.” Well, fasten your seatbelts, because big changes are fast approaching.
Dr. Steven Waslander, professor at University of Waterloo and director of the Waterloo Autonomous Vehicles Lab (WAVELab), leads a team of 80 students and engineers, equipped with a modified Lincoln MKZ vehicle aptly named Autonomoose. Working with leading companies in the automotive sector, his team is pushing the boundaries of autonomous driving technology.
This technology is opening up a world of change and one of its definitive impacts will be on car safety. On a global scale, car accidents are currently the eighth leading cause of death. In Canada alone, there were over 1,800 motor vehicle deaths in 2015. Studies show that human error is the main cause of car accidents, so self-driving cars should reduce accidents dramatically.
One key challenge is that, while autonomous vehicles react and process information much faster than human drivers, these vehicles still lack human reasoning skill. Simply put, the vehicles cannot handle the ambiguous situations driver encounter on the road today.
Dr. Waslander and his team at WAVELab are working hard on another, distinctly Canadian, challenge: cold and snow. These weather conditions have repercussions on vehicles’ sensors and their ability to properly assess the road and its surroundings. This challenge has led the WAVELab team to make technological developments so that vehicles can respond better to difficult road conditions.
Dr. Waslander is also aware of the social and political issues that need to be addressed as the technology develops. To keep Canada competitive with the rest of the world, he belives, there needs to be legislative clarity, safety assessments, test programs and solutions for cybersecurity. All of this will ensure that both the research on these cars and their eventual integration onto public roads are regulated and secure.
Although we have just scratched the surface of artificial intelligence, there is keen interest and continuous growth in autonomous vehicle technology. A future where artificial intelligence takes the front seat may come sooner than we think.
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