Mohammad Reza Dezfulian explains the future of the automotive industry with the prospect of self-driving cars in a new article published on his website.

Mohammad Reza Dezfulian stated that today, advances in IT-related fields such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things have led to far-reaching developments in various industries, including automotive. The automotive industry has entered the field of self-driving cars to reduce costs, offer a variety of products and increasing efficiency, overcoming environmental problems caused by energy consumption, and ultimately creating new markets. It is not difficult to predict that electric and self-driving cars will have a large share in the coming years, and some even announce that these cars will be public by 2025.

Mohammad Reza Dezfulian defined different levels of car automation as:

Most of the vehicles on today's roads are at zero levels, which means that they are manually controlled and humans are responsible for "dynamic driving". However, there may be systems to assist the driver. Level one is the lowest level of automation in which a vehicle uses a single automatic system to assist the driver, such as steering or acceleration control (cruise control). At level two, automation is performed in part with Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems (ADAS) so that the vehicle can control the steering, throttle, and acceleration of the vehicle, and due to personal presence in the driver's seat, automation is imperfect; The Tesla Autopilot and Cadillac (General Motors) supercruise systems are referred to as Level 2 automation. At Level 3, where conditional automation is performed, there is a more technological difference. They are ahead of the car, but Level 3 cars still need a vigilant, ready-to-control driver at times. Level 4 will not require human interaction in most situations, and man as an external agent has the option to manually control the car, although Level 4 cars have a high degree of automation, only Traffic authorized in certain geographical areas (Geofencing) have the special infrastructure and legislation in this area. Level 5 cars are fully automated and do not inherently require human presence and attention. In principle, these cars do not even have a steering wheel or accelerator and brake pedals. Of course, to all this, the important feature must be added that level five cars do not have space restrictions and can go anywhere and do anything that an experienced human driver can do.

Definition of "car":

Mohammad Reza Dezfulian continued that being said, the "self-driving car" ideally refers to a car that is at level five of automation, and its passenger does not need to take possession of the car at all while traveling, and may not even be in the car. It is a self-driving car equipped with sensors, radar systems, sophisticated algorithms, machine learning systems, and powerful processors to run the software. The terms auto and auto are different, and auto has a concept beyond electrical-mechanical modification, which means that a fully automated machine is "conscious" and can choose from the options available to it. Naturally, when researching and developing a Level 5 car, there is a need to move beyond the previous levels, and this movement will occur with the technological advances of the country or the manufacturer, and the term "cars" may be used in general at different levels for cars. Refers to the main project and purpose. Automobiles are at the level of three or four automata, and a human rider must always be present and ready to take control. It should be noted that at levels zero to two, the human agent is responsible for monitoring the driving environment, while at levels three to five, automated systems are responsible for monitoring the driving environment.

Mohammad Reza Dezfulian explained the opportunity and challenge of self-driving cars:

Undoubtedly, the advent of self-driving cars will directly or indirectly improve the lifestyle and comfort of all levels of society. The role of self-driving cars is also very important in significantly reducing CO2 emissions. Other benefits of using self-driving cars include a noticeable reduction in traffic jams, reduced transportation costs such as vehicle depreciation, energy, and fuel consumption and infrastructure maintenance, free parking lots for other uses, and reduced accidents.

Of course, there are challenges in achieving self-driving cars that require technical or non-technical solutions to solve them. Some of the equipment and systems required for these vehicles are expensive or bulky. In addition to busy routes, technical issues such as frequency interference may also arise. Climatic conditions are also a challenge and the operation of operational and non-operational components and modules in conditions of heavy fog, snow, and storms will be issues. Traffic issues and laws are other challenges that need to be addressed Dezfulian concluded.

About Mohammad Reza Dezfulian:

Mohammad Reza Dezfulian the Automotive and heavy trucks after-sales services expert and Industrial Engineering graduate from the Sharif University of Technology has given a speech on the captioned subject.