Challenges of Autonomous Cars

Fully autonomous (Level 5) cars are undergoing testing in several locations around the world, but none are yet available to the general public. We’re still years away from that. The challenges range from the technological and legislative to the environmental and philosophical. These are just some of the unknowns ^[1]:

• Lidar and Radar: Lidar is expensive and is still trying to strike the right balance between range and resolution. If multiple autonomous cars were to drive on the same road, would their lidar signals interfere with one another? And if multiple radio frequencies are available, will the frequency range be enough to support mass production of autonomous cars?

• Weather Conditions: What happens when an autonomous car drives in heavy precipitation? If there’s a layer of snow on the road, lane dividers disappear. How will the cameras and sensors track lane markings if the markings are obscured by water, oil, ice, or debris?

• Traffic Conditions and Laws: Will autonomous cars have trouble in tunnels or on bridges? How will they do in bumper-to-bumper traffic? Will autonomous cars be relegated to a specific lane? Will they be granted carpool lane access? And what about the fleet of legacy cars still sharing the roadways for the next 20 or 30 years?

• Accident Liability: Who is liable for accidents caused by an autonomous car? A fully autonomous Level 5 car will not have a dashboard or a steering wheel, so a human passenger would not even have the option to take control of the vehicle in an emergency.

• Artificial vs. Emotional Intelligence:Human drivers rely on subtle cues and non-verbal communication—like making eye contact with pedestrians or reading the facial expressions and body language of other drivers—to make split-second judgment calls and predict behaviors. Will autonomous cars be able to replicate this connection? Will they have the same life-saving instincts as human drivers?