Perhaps no area has been subject to more scrutiny and at the same time, excitement, than driverless vehicles. Populating the news and world of IoT, driverless vehicles promise safety, security and efficiency – a sleek future where vehicles ranging from cars to tractors and trucks drive themselves without incident.
Interest in this future is evidently not waning, as last month UK start-up Wayve, a company creating its own path on driverless vehicles – or self-driving cars, as the company terms it – announced a whopping $1.05 billion investment in its technology. In a press release announcing the conclusion of the investment round, Wayve explained that this money would go towards “reimagining autonomous mobility through embodied intelligence”. It went on to say that Embodied AI will play a significant role in learning from human behaviour in real world environments.
“At Wayve, our vision is to develop autonomous technology that not only becomes a reality in millions of vehicles but also earns people’s trust by seamlessly integrating into their everyday lives to unlock extraordinary value,” said Alex Kendall, Co-Founder and CEO of Wayve at the time of announcement.
The challenges facing driverless technology include accurately surveying the surroundings – what the human eye can perceive with no issues, a driverless car needs accurate cameras, radar sensors and infrared sensors to inform it of the outside conditions. Artificial intelligence (AI) is still learning, and a driverless car supported by AI may perceive a plastic bag as a danger and stop suddenly. Sensors, meanwhile, can be tricked by poor weather, as rain or fog will obstruct the view. The smooth operation of driverless vehicles will also partly dependent on the infrastructure in place, as the evolution of smart cities and deployment of 5G networks will facilitate better operation.
Whether cars, tractors or trucks, companies are keen to espouse the benefits of investing in driverless technology. In Wayve’s announcement about securing investment, driverless cars were discussed in relation to improving road safety and reducing traffic accidents; while Aurora Innovation, another company operating in this space, set driverless technology against a backdrop of safety issues, driver shortages and supply chain challenges, framing driverless trucks as the answer to an industry beset by difficulties but dependent on trucks for transporting goods.
Driverless technology has extended to farming, as earlier in May, the BBC reported that arable farmer Will Mumford had invested in an AI-powered autonomous vehicle (AV) for the purposes of cultivating soil and planting seeds. Besides the continuous operation benefits the AV offers, he told the BBC that part of the appeal is the sustainability element, explaining the “machines are much lighter and much kinder to the soil”.
“The industry in general is addicted to large machinery and that over time is starting to damage our soil structure and kill a bit of biodiversity off,” said Mumford to the BBC.
Although the picture of a driverless tractor reads like a scene out of a science fiction novel, the technology that supports such a machine is sophisticated. Driverless tractors are supported by sensors and cameras and satellite guidance, and must be sturdy enough to withstand the sometimes harsh environments that come with farming.
At the beginning of this year, equipment manufacturer John Deere announced a partnership with SpaceX in a move to expand connectivity to farmers working in rural locations and in doing so, enable greater numbers of farmers to leverage agriculture technologies. “The value of connectivity to farmers is broader than any single task or action. Connectivity unlocks vast opportunities that were previously limited or unavailable,” said Aaron Wetzel, Vice President of Production and Precision Ag Production Systems at John Deere in the press release, in a sign of how connectivity to use these technologies is becoming key.
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