Journal #6 Zhaoyang

In Chris Urmson’s article “Progress in Self-Driving Vehicles” (2015), he talks about the history of self-driving vehicles and their future developing. Why do we need automated driving? Chris first indicates that it has been motivated “to increase safety and mobility”. A large number of accidents are due to human error, resulting in many people killed. Then he says that self-driving vehicles enable “people who cannot drive to get around” and deployed to reduce congestion. In the end, Chris points out indirectly that driver remaining in the steering loop may have problems of attentiveness and skill atrophy. In my perspective, there are two challenges that unmanned control automobiles are facing: 1. To what extent will the general public accepts this technology? 2. What is the backup solution when the system crashes?

This topic is really heated among customers who have the willingness to buy a car. If, one day, self-driving vehicles are in the market, will they consider them? I believe this is just a time-relative problem. Unmanned control is a trend appearing not only in vehicles but also in airplanes and even furniture, such as a vacuum cleaner. When Apple introduced the first iPhone, consumers did not believe it would replace keyboard phones. However, now, iPhone and Samsung are the top two smart-phone selling companies, and Nokia was purchased by Microsoft. Technology always moves forward, so self-driving vehicles will be the general one in the future.

When we are using a computer, we fear the system crashing. If this happens, we may lose files. Unfortunately, if this happens on a self-driving car, we may lose lives. Undoubtedly, the most important mission is to avoid the system crashing. Designers can program a backup solution that can pull over the car when the system breakdown, then the driver can take over. One main system executes self-driving, and one backup system performs pulling over. Since the latter is fairly simpler, it is not as easy to crash as the former system.


I love trying new things so I would like to drive these vehicles. Technology moves forward so that human should also move forward.