Intelligent Cars: Are We There Yet?

Abstract

& THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY is experiencing disruptive changes at all levels—from design, and production, to community and business models. A previously rigid and very closed business environment is forced to open and embrace new methods to survive. In particular, it has become clear that a previously strongly deterministic approach has to be replaced with flexible adaptive approaches. This opened a path to newmethods, which are reportedly necessary to bring the industry to the ultimate goal—driverless vehicles in any driving condition. The artificial intelligence (AI) has a significant role in this development, but it has not reached the full potential yet due to rigorous requirements that automotive-grade outputs need to satisfy. Nevertheless, an access to a paramount source of data has pushedAImethods to front rows, while all other processing methods are grouped in the “pre-AI era,” or even labeled as “vintagemethods.” Futuristic predictions just a few years ago were very optimistic, and foreseen time span until deployment decreased from several decades to several years. After the first wave of the excitement has passed, the closer look at the whole picture revealed that the problems of the ecosystem apply not just to actual engineering of the vehicles, but to the impacts this technology has on the society. This made us aware, that although we have a technology to answer to the challenge, the technology needs to mature further to cover all critical use cases. An automotive field has always been classified as an industry, rather than consumer, although a consumer mass market of a final product—a vehicle, is huge: according to theworld association of car manufacturers Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d’Automobiles (OICA), in 2017, the global average annual turnover was 2.75 trillion, with production of 73.4 million cars and 23.84 million trucks. As modern vehicles architecture changes inside, and hardware and software take roles of mechanical parts, so changes the interior of the vehicle. We witness the integration of products and services from creative industries and other common consumer electronics products and services into cabins [1]. This affected terminology and expectations. This nicely illustrates why the term “consumer electronics” (CE) has become obsolete and the term “consumer technology” has become more appropriate, reflecting the social changes due to technology accomplishments and shifts in consumer expectations. Thus, before we hit the big milestone—complete switch to driverless vehicles, also known as L5, we are continuing research to make this experience better, smoother, and safer. The articles in this special section are carefully chosen with the help of the Editor-in-Chief (EIC), are part of this legacy. The articles are extended versions of presentations at the Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MCE.2020.2972084