With the continuous development of science and technology, driverless online car-hailing has begun to become the focus of public attention. As a product with cutting-edge technology, it demonstrated the real-time driving situation of autonomous vehicles on Beijing's Fifth Ring Road at its AI developer conference, which caused widespread controversy. In the past, autonomous driving companies mainly used closed tests to conduct tests, but now, major cities across the country have carried out unmanned driving pilots and opened test areas on a large scale. As driverless technology gradually enters the public's field of vision, more and more online ride-hailing drivers are beginning to question: will unmanned driving replace human drivers?
What is autonomous driving?
Autonomous driving technology represents a revolutionary change in the automotive industry. It leverages advanced sensors, computer vision, and artificial intelligence to enable cars to autonomously perform driving tasks without the need for real-time human control. The development of this technology is widely recognized as one of the important ways to improve traffic safety, reduce traffic accidents, alleviate traffic congestion, and improve travel efficiency.
The realization of autonomous driving technology mainly relies on on-board sensors, including lidar, cameras, millimeter-wave radar, and ultrasonic sensors. These sensors are capable of capturing various data about the vehicle's surroundings, such as road conditions, other vehicles, pedestrians, and more. By analyzing and processing this data in real time, the autonomous driving system is able to make precise driving decisions, including the acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle, steering, changing lanes, and other operations.
What is L4 Self-Driving?
Autonomous driving technology is divided into six different levels, from the most basic assisted driving to fully autonomous driving. These levels are based on how much control the vehicle has over the driving task and whether or not a human driver is required to intervene. At present, most vehicles are in the stage of assisted driving (Level 2) or conditional autonomous driving (Level 3), while Level 4 autonomous driving, that is, highly automated driving, refers to the fact that the vehicle is able to complete driving tasks and monitor the driving environment completely autonomously in a specific environment and conditions, without the intervention of a human driver. This level of autonomous driving relies heavily on high-precision maps and other sensor technology to make it happen.
Will autonomous driving replace human drivers?
Some progress has been made in the development of autonomous driving technology. Over the past two years, as autonomous driving technology continues to improve, more and more mobility companies have begun to try to commercialize robotaxis. Among them, the first batch of Didi autonomous driving online car-hailing vehicles that have obtained the qualification of Guangzhou intelligent network demonstration operation have launched commercial demonstration operations in Huadu District, Guangzhou, and citizens can place orders and call vehicles through Didi's autonomous driving applet to experience autonomous driving services immediately. In addition, more than 40 cities in China, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Wuhan, Changsha, Suzhou, and Cangzhou, have been opened to test unmanned autonomous driving.
Autonomous driving technology still cannot completely replace human driving. Although autonomous driving technology has made great progress, it still faces many challenges in complex traffic environments and adverse weather conditions. For example, in rainy or foggy weather, sensors such as cameras and radars are susceptible to interference, which affects the accuracy and safety of autonomous driving.
From the perspective of technical level, the current self-driving car has not yet reached the level of completely unmanned driving, that is, the L5 level, which can be autonomous driving under any conditions. Most autonomous vehicles on the market are at Level 2 or Level 3, i.e., partially or conditionally autonomous driving that requires constant driver supervision or takeover. It is not expected until at least around 2030 that Level 4 levels of highly automated driving will be achieved, i.e., autonomous driving under limited conditions without the need for a driver to take over. As a result, drivers remain indispensable for the foreseeable future.
At present, autonomous vehicles are mainly concentrated in taxis, buses and vans. Labor costs in these areas are higher, and routes are more fixed and feasible. As technology advances and costs decrease, autonomous vehicles in these areas will gradually become widespread and commercialized. This means that dedicated drivers will compete with the growing number of driverless ride-hailing services in the coming years.