The car business is working hard to create “autonomous driving” in the near future. Worldwide, automakers are putting their heads together to help make this dream become a reality. Things like cars changing lanes by themselves or brakes being applied when the driver is not focused are some of the things on the to-do-list for automakers.
But, how did this dreaming all start you might wonder? It was November 2007. Red Whittaker, a professor of robotics at Carnegie Mellon University, spoke of that day that set off a ‘Big Bang’ of sorts, and has changed the course of the automobile: “That day in 2007 was the moment when concepts that had been around for years suddenly came out of the laboratory and into the world. And unless you were aware of the decades of research that had been going on, the whole thing probably came as a complete surprise to you.”
On that Saturday in November, the U.S. Department of Defense invited professionals in transportation science and computer programming to help with a 60-mile course full of obstacles. Their reasoning was to prove a point that self-driven vehicles could be safer and financially achievable options for the general public of our world. This wasn’t the first test of its kind though. Even before this date in history, there were other tests and competitions, asking auto geniuses to come up with models and capabilities to fit the bill for the future. Some groups and organizations, like Whittakers’, competed for millions of dollars to support future researching capabilities.
Whittaker went on to say that “these people are pioneers, and this is inevitable now,” What you start just keeps spreading out in new ways. You don’t know where discoveries will take you. Do you think that when the Wright brothers first got their plane off the ground they had any idea that it would result in the technology to compare airline ticket prices online?”
During the time of these specific tests, the auto industry was not in a good spot. Sales for the auto industry were faltering, and commonly purchased vehicles, like SUVs and Pickups, were on a downslide due to gas prices. With Americans losing jobs quicker than they could find them, the U.S. economy looked to be sinking rapidly.
Fortunately, the economy resurfaced and has continued to climb. With the climb of finances across the world, look for car innovators to continue to push the limit for self-driving cars.
