The automotive industry has been trying hard to keep pace with recent technological advancements. And in many ways, it seems that the future of cars is now.

Significant breakthroughs have been made in the field of electric cars, autonomous vehicles, and AI technology integration.

It’ll be interesting to see what the future holds for the automotive industry. But one thing is for sure – electric vehicles will become the norm and most cars will have integrated autonomous driving.

Autonomous Cars

In his short story The Minority Report, Philip K. Dick described autonomous cars that elegantly glide along roads and take voice commands.

As of recently, smart cameras, AI, precision sensors, and advanced computing have allowed car manufacturers to take autonomous cars beyond mere experiments. In fact, companies and labs have been experimenting with self-driving vehicles since the 1920s. To get a better picture of how far they’ve come, it pays to take a closer look at the early beginnings.

The History of Autonomous Cars

The first autonomous car appeared on the streets of Broadway in 1925 and it was conveniently named the American Wonder. It was radio-controlled and gave the crowds a glimpse of what their grandchildren might expect in the future.

Admittedly, the very first autonomous vehicle doesn’t seem as impressive and autonomous as the contemporary driverless cars. But the efforts did not stop at the American Wonder. The first car that featured the autonomy as we know it today came to life in 1977 in Japan.

Tsukuba Mechanical Engineering Lab designed the first vehicle that was truly self-driving and intelligent. The Tsukuba driverless car reached speeds of up to 18.6 mph and was able to track white markers along the road. From the seventies to this day, the push to reach complete vehicle autonomy multiplied along with the technologies that can support the efforts.

The following examples are just some of the cars that are bound to leave a permanent mark on the automotive industry.

Tesla Model S

The all-electric Tesla Model S is the first production vehicle that popularized autonomous driving. Admittedly, for legal and safety reasons, the Teslas (excluding the Model 3) are not as autonomous as they might seem.

The option is more like an autopilot but it does allow you to take the hands away from the steering wheel and allow the car to take over.

Autonomous Ford Fusion

Ford was quick to pick up the autonomous car pace as dictated by other manufacturers. You can hitch a ride in a fully autonomous Ford Fusion in Miami and a few other US cities.

The technology will be commercially available in 2021. For now, the future of autonomous Ford looks promising.

Waymo

Waymo is one of the most interesting contenders to bring autonomous vehicles to fruition. It was started as a Google project in 2009 but has grown into an independent self-driving technology company.

The cars of the future won’t only be smart and autonomous. Technologies that allow greater car safety is being developed alongside self-driving systems. And the world might not be that far from having cars that take voice commands and glide in synchrony along the roads.

Self-driving cars in Nigeria

Many people are of the opinion that self-driving cars will not work in most Nigerian cities where the roads are in dire need of attention. Also, there is a growing number of people who believe that even if it works, there is this danger of the car been stolen on the road or in traffic.

Another hindering factor might be GPS failure and crackling of atmospherics which will pose a threat in picking out locations perfectly. The future of cars is exciting and Nigeria will get there. But before that, Nigerians may want to shift their attention to hybrid cars