Self-driving cars will soon become a daily part of our lives
It is almost surreal to imagine hopping on to a car that drives itself to your work, while you are playing your favourite game or reading your daily quota of morning news. This scenario may not be too far from becoming reality if the buzz around self-driving is true.
The idea of breezy commutes where autonomous vehicles will make road accidents a thing of the past is garnering a lot of public interest. The promise of no crash, lowered emission, and reduced traffic congestion is too tempting to ignore.
Undoubtedly, self-driving cars will be a strong driving force of the 4th industrial revolution. And it is more relatable to the masses than other buzzwords like AI, or blockchain.
All the major automakers are trying to bring out their own self-driving models by 2020. Last month, General Motors announced cutting 14,000 jobs to realign its focus on self-driving and electric vehicles. These changes are the new normal in the auto industry.
The seasoned automakers are facing a stiff challenge from the young and nimble tech companies such as Alphabet, Apple, Tesla, and Uber in the race to build the cars of the future.
Self-driving cars are great until everything goes downhill.
Two incidences of fatalities involving self-driving cars from Uber and Tesla in March this year brought stricter scrutiny back on the safety claims of the technology. All is not well with the self-driving technology.
On a lighter note, a scene from the very popular HBO series Silicon Valley sums up all the fears surrounding the self-driving car. In this scene a popular character, Jared gets a ride home in Peter Gregory’s driverless hybrid car.
As the funny situation unfolds the car drives itself into a shipping container, which is promptly sealed and hoisted onto a ship to a remote island. In short, Jared was carjacked by the vehicle.
Tech shopping spree
The carmakers realize that there are still serious technical and safety challenges to overcome. A quick glance at some of the biggest transactions and deals in self-driving tech will reveal that the automakers are on a shopping spree for technologies to make self-driving safer.
Ford $1 billion investment in Argo AI
Toyota $1 billion investment in Toyota Research Institute
GM $581 million to acquire self-driving car start-up, Cruise Automation.
GM $500 million investment in Lyft
Volvo $300 joint venture with Uber
Intel $250 million of additional new investments over the next two years to make fully autonomous driving a reality.
Uber $680 million to purchase Otto
Intel $15.3 billion to buy Mobileye
Hyundai $1.7 billion in R&D
Again, the focus shifts to Israel
From the list above, the deal that stands out is the Intel deal with Israel based Mobileye. Israel is becoming synonymous to the quintessential first stop of the tech giants for key technologies.
Headquartered in Jerusalem, Mobileye produces a vision system which could detect vehicles using only a camera and software algorithms on a processor. Due to its simplicity, Mobileye offers an effective solution to make cars better see the world while driving.
In March 2017, Intel announced their record-breaking deal to buy Mobileye for $15.3 billion. Mobileye is currently partnering BMW and Volkswagen in implementing self-driving capabilities.
The Israeli autonomous technologies do not end with Mobileye. It is only a prelude for more game-changing technologies to come. With its ideal size, availability of cutting-edge technologies, and high appetite for risk Israel is emerging as a leader in adopting autonomous vehicle technology.
A brief look at how a few of the Israeli startups are actively redefining the self-driving car story will surely blow your mind.