Kennesaw State’s Interim Department Chair of Mechatronics Engineering Kevin McFall spoke about the future of vehicle technology after Waymo, an autonomous car development company, announced last month that their fleet of self-driving trucks will drive through metro Atlanta.
According to Hypepotamus, Waymo brought self-driving minivans to Atlanta early this year, which they used to collect data and map the area so the company could later safely expand their operations to metro Atlanta. The trucks will use this same data to be able to navigate through the area.
In a later interview with Hypepotamus, McFall spoke about how quickly the technology in vehicles has advanced over the past decade.
Traditional cruise control, backup cameras, automatic object detection and parking assistance have contributed to the advancement of autonomous vehicles, and testing of both freight and passenger vehicles in real driving conditions is being led by Uber.
When talking about vehicle AI, McFall commented on its current restrictions.
“Current AI technology still acts human-like rather than thinking human-like,” he said. “Its decisions are clinical and unflinching.”
However, McFall said that while autonomous vehicles will be involved in accidents a human would never cause, autonomous vehicles will never encounter the dangers of human driving, such as driving while intoxicated or running a red light.
McFall also listed several benefits that the introduction of autonomous vehicles will bring to Atlanta: productivity of being able to work while in traffic, ease of ride-sharing and communication between cars to move uniformly when a light turns green.
He also addressed the challenges with bringing autonomous vehicles to Atlanta, such as the need for reliable technology, redundant communications and the risk of hacking. These challenges make it difficult to know when the technology may become widespread, McFall said.
With all the work surrounding autonomous vehicles, however, McFall thinks it will take several more years before autonomous vehicles begin to impact Kennesaw and Marietta. Current Georgia law requires that all autonomous vehicle testing be done by automobile manufacturers, and McFall believes it is unlikely that they would dedicate significant resources to Kennesaw.
Testing in Atlanta is currently taking place in areas like the Atlanta North Avenue Smart Corridor, which is located close to Georgia Tech. McFall said that the location is “no accident” because the school works closely with vehicle manufacturers to ensure the safe testing of autonomous vehicles.
