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Imagine you’re driving in a crowded city, where parking is at a premium. Normally, you’d spend time driving down block after block, hoping for a street parking space and possibly ending up parking in an overpriced garage because you need to be somewhere. Now, imagine that your car was fully automated, and had the ability to drop you off at your desired destination, find a parking space on its own, park itself, and come pick you up later.
Although the technology associated with full vehicle automation is still in the early stages of research and development, it is possible that the above scenario may one day be a reality. Partial vehicle automation is closer to being available commercially, with experts at General Motors (GM) suggesting that they may finish developing the technology within the next decade. Partial automation means that a driver would not need to accelerate or steer, but would need to be aware of their surroundings and may need to intervene if the automation does not pick up on occurrences in the surrounding environment quickly enough.
The technology uses vehicle-to-vehicle communication, which allows a car to essentially be aware of its surroundings via transmissions with other vehicles. Although GM had previously announced its transmission technology that could cut down on the instances of vehicle crashes in the United States, the possibility of full vehicle automation was not made apparent until recently.
Not only would automated vehicles make driving less stressful for drivers and cut down on collisions, but there would be a fuel savings as well. Automation would prompt drivers to accelerate in a way that would optimize fuel efficiency, and would assure that vehicles would be driven at a distance from the vehicle both in front and behind to take advantage of wind resistance reduction. Fuel efficiency could be boosted by as much as fifteen percent due to automation.
Auto manufacturers have been researching the possibility of vehicle automation for decades, but more interest in the technology in recent years has allowed companies like General Motors to begin to further develop the technology. Full vehicle automation may not be available in the near future, but GM has shown that it is a real possibility.
