Autonomous Cars

n the last couple of years autonomous cars are also known as self-driving cars are becoming more and more possible, but when were they started to be pursued. According to the article “Autonomous Cars Through the Ages” by Tom Vanderbilt, “ humans have dreamed about autonomous cars since the day of Leonardo Da Vinci’s robotic cart (Vanderbilt).” Then later in the 1920’s is when they started being experimenting on. Then by the 1950’s, there were some trials that started looking promising. In the article “Autonomous Cars Through the Ages” it talks about “one trial in 1958 the company Wetmore notes tested a 1958 Chevrolet that could sense the alternating current of wire embedded in the road and would adjust the steering wheel accordingly (Vanderbilt).”
Then the article states, “first truly autonomous car means that it can process images of the road ahead and in 1977 S. Tsugawa and his colleagues at Japan’s Mechanical Engineering Laboratory equipped a car with two cameras that used analog computer technology for signal processing. The car was capable of speed up to 18.6 mph but was aided by an elevated rail. Then later in 1987 the company VaMoRs experimented on one and was able to drive 56 mph about 12.5 miles. Then in 1994 VaMP was able to drive 81 mph. Then in 1995, Carnegie Mellon University robotics drove Navlab 5, a 1990 Pontiac Trans Sport, from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles and it was 98.2 percent autonomous. Then in 2004, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency created the Grand Challenge and would offer a $1 million prize to the team who can make an autonomous car that was capable of finishing a 150-mile race. The outcome was none of the cars successfully completed the course. Then the next year the prize doubled for the second Grand Challenge. This time there was five cars that finished. Then in 2007 DARPA