Ever since the wonky science fiction films of the 1950s, one of the true mark of ‘the future’ was always represented by two things - flying cars and self-driving cars. Whilst we still might be a few years off the flying cars seen in Back to the Future 2, the era of autonomous driving is upon us already and there are a number of companies currently leading the way. We’ll put the spotlight on just a few of them below.
Mercedes - Graphics card masters Nvidia recently partnered with Mercedes, for example, on a deal that they purport will “create a computer that defines the future of autonomous vehicles, the future of AI, and the future of mobility.” This ‘smart cockpit’ machine looks set to be one of the first truly ‘safe’ autonomous cars. It sounds great, but you might want to make sure your Mercedes warranty is all good and accounted for before essentially jamming HAL into the driver’s seat.
Apple (News - Alert) - Never a company to miss out on the ‘next big thing’, Apple recently snapped up a failing AI driving firm that was on the brink of collapse as a means of kickstarting its own autonomous driving division. Apple bought Drive.ai just as the company that was once valued at $200 million was ready to fold, saving at least 90 employees in the process. What Apple plans to do with the company is, of course, currently under wraps. But that such a major tech player is taking such a large interest in such a company surely speaks volumes for the potential immediate future of self-driving tech.
Uber - Arguably the name that has become almost synonymous with vehicular technological advancement in recent years, Uber also make some substantial moves into the AI driving sector recently with its acquisition of startup Mighty AI. The Seattle-based company specialises in ‘computer vision’, which means using AI to understand a vehicle’s immediate surroundings. Of course, Uber already has previous notoriety when it comes to AI vehicles, with a self-driving Uber resulting in the death of a pedestrian last year. However, the ride-sharing behemoth appears to be putting the dark days behind it with this latest major move.
Further on up the road
Many experts still put the dawn of mainstream self-driving cars years down the road, with too many hurdles still left to climb. Not only do such vehicles require an obscene amount of steady and reliable data to operate reliably, but many people are still just not ready to hand their lives over to a machine. As long as major names keep investing in the tech, however, the autonomous future surely can’t be too far ahead of us.
