IntroductionOver the last centurythere have been dozens of iterations and improvements made to the motorizedvehicle that Karl Benzcreated at the end of the 19th century (1885/1886). The motorizedvehicle or more commonly referred to as a car, has changed almost entirelysince the original vehicle was implemented into society. Most notably the improvements tobrakes, steering and the implementation of safety features such as seat beltschanged the car drastically along with increased speeds and efficiency.In more recent years, vehicles have become more ‘homely’ with features such as air conditioning and onboardheating and with a variety of digital advancements such as onboard GPS andWi-Fi hotspots.One of the more notableand controversial advancements of the last few years has been the development andpotential implementation of autonomous vehicles, or more commonly known asself-vehicles.In this report I willbe talking about the advancements that have been made and discussing why theimplementation of autonomous vehicles in modern society is as controversial asit is.

Throughout the report I will be focusing on two companies that have beendeveloping autonomous technology. These companies have been a prevalent part inautonomous technology and will continue to advance the current systems they havebeen developing. These companies are Tesla and Google/Waymo.I will be usingarticles I have found to support claims on the topic and give my own conclusionon how I personally feel about the implementation of these vehicles in day today life. What are Autonomous Vehicles and how do they work?The idea behindautonomous vehicles is not all that different from a normal car journey thatyou yourself would drive yourself. The key difference is that you can travelfrom point A to point B without driving the vehicle, rather the vehicle is incontrol and will make all the necessary adjustments that need to be made in thejourney. This includes allthe primary functions such as speed, brakes, that will come together to create amore precise and optimal journey for yourself and passengers alike.

TeslaInlate 2014, Tesla owner Elon Musk unveiled the Model S; a vehicle with Tesla’snew autopilot technology and GPS based hardware too create a self-drivingexperience that according to Tesla is “At a safety level far greater than that of a human driver”.Asmentioned above, Tesla use hardware based on GPS systems to allow for theirvehicles to be self-driving. According to Tesla, this process is achieved by eight surround cameras thatprovide 360 degrees of visibility around the car providing up to 250 metres ofrange. These cameras will read in data such as the vehicles currentspeed, location, and destination as well as surrounding vehicles information aswell to make an informed decision on what the best course of action will be insaid situation. All the data that these cameras acquire is sent to an onboardcomputer that will process all the information given and output a suitableresponse. These twosystems work together to provide a view on the situation that a lone driverwould not be able to compute by themselves due to the massive amount of datathat goes into the process of analysing every direction simultaneously onwavelengths far beyond human senses.

 Google/WaymoGoogles autonomous vehicle project started in2009 when Google attempted a 100-hour mile autonomous journey in a Toyota Prius. This is arguably the start of theself-driven car project after the task that google set out was accomplished andhas been built up upon ever since. One of the most notable progressions in autonomous vehicles over thelast few years of development came from Google in 2015 when Steve Mahan; ablind man, was driven in the ‘Pod-Car’ for 10 minutes. This vehicle had nosteering wheel or pedals inside marking a pivotal moment in the history ofautonomous vehicles.In 2016, the department working on GooglesAutonomous vehicle project was renamed Waymo as it launched as a standalonecompany under Googles parent company, Umbrella of Alphabet. Waymo has developeda very similar system to Tesla that uses multiple sensors and software that aredesigned to detect pedestrians, cyclists and other vehicles up too two footballfields away.

Are there ethical/legal implications concerning Autonomousvehicles?Although these companieshave achieved great things through years of development, autonomous vehicles arecriticized and bought into discussion regarding the ethical and legality over theirexistence. On May 2016, Joshua Brownwas unfortunately killed driving in his Tesla Model S   Conclusion From a technological stand point, the progress and development of autonomousvehicles is an impressive feat that will continue to progress and grow into modernsocieties.