Elon's driverless Teslas to know where to go
Musk hints at the future of autonomous vehicles
Autonomous vehicles are one thing. But a vehicle AI that will know beforehand where drivers need or want to go? Elon Musk recently hinted at that in some recent tweets (See below).
In the competition for a driverless vehicle launch, it is not yet apparent who will be the first to deliver an autonomous vehicle to the public or just quite when.
All that can be speculated is that it is coming very soon. Tesla is certainly at the forefront. Then there is Google, China's Baidu, virtually all the major manufacturers like GM and Toyota and there are tech firms like Nvidia.
What is called level 5 autonomy is the target. Until that level is reached, driverless vehicles hitting the marketplace will continue to be as far away from consumers as a rocket ride to Mars. Most are hovering in the 3 to 4 range. And in cities around the world, all involved are hitting the streets testing out their platforms.
Tesla has the hardware for the necessary software for level 5 autonomy already built into its electric vehicles from as far back as a year ago, so expect Tesla to be right there. Google has put in 3 million miles of work in its Waymo self-driving technology and has partnered with Lyft.
But there has been drama in Google's efforts for a self-driving platform. Google engineers have conflicted with Waymo's CEO about a launch time frame and accuse him of not really understanding the technology. And Waymo is embroiled in a lawsuit with Uber with both accusing the other of not acting in good faith. From International Business Times
Of the major manufacturers, it is hard to say who will rise to level 5 the quickest. GM and Ford are on par with each other as both have invested in Silicon Valley self-driving start-ups and also computer chip companies that have separately introduced ways to allow Lidar technology to be put into vehicles cheap enough to mass produce.
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| Nvidia CEO Jenson Huang discussing autonomous technology |
Nvidia, a producer of GPU's, or graphics processing units, is using its technological prowess to make GPU's with enough computational power to achieve level 5 autonomous driving.
The computing power its GPU produces and the software that goes with it is the missing key for all self-driving platforms. Nvidia has both invested in self-driving start-ups and partnered with companies that utilize industrial vehicles for commercial purposes like DHL and trucking. It also envisions using its technology to create a fleet of robotaxi's. From Nvidia Blog
Yeah, don't exactly need to be Sherlock Holmes.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 21, 2017
It won't even need to ask you most of the time— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 21, 2017
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