Autonomous automobile

An autonomous car (also known as a driverless car, self-driving car,robotic car) and unmanned ground vehicle is a vehicle that is capable of sensing its environment and navigating without human input. Many such systems are evolving, but as of 2017 no cars permitted on public roads were fully autonomous. They all require a human at the wheel who must be ready to take control at any time.

Autonomous cars use a variety of techniques to detect their surroundings, such as radar, laser light, GPS, odometry and computer vision. Advanced control systems interpret sensory information to identify appropriate navigation paths, as well as obstacles and relevant signage. Autonomous cars must have control systems that are capable of analyzing sensory data to distinguish between different cars on the road.

Demonstration systems date to the 1920s and 1930s. The first attempts at truly autonomous cars appeared in the 1980s, with Carnegie Mellon University's Navlab and ALV projects in 1984 and Mercedes-Benz and Bundeswehr University Munich's Eureka Prometheus Project in 1987. A major milestone was achieved in 1995, when CMU's NavLab 5 completed the first autonomous long distance drive. Of the 2,849 miles between Pittsburgh, PA and San Diego, CA, 2,797 miles were autonomous (98.2%), completed with an average speed of 63.8 miles per hour (102.7 km/h). Since then, companies and research organizations have developed working prototypes.

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