The Position of the Driverless Car Innovation in the IT Sector

The world of technology has over the years been revolutionising at a rapid rate. One of the most significant invention that has hit the world in shock particularly the transport sector is the recent innovate invention of driverless cars. In the attempts of ensuring this remarkable invention is put on the road and running, billions of money have been spent by large car makers companies such as Nisan, Tesla and Audi in collaboration with some of the famous tech firms such as Aurora and Google (Markoff 2014, pp.11-98). This report aims at exploring how the driverless car innovation is positioning itself in the market in its attempt of gaining a competitive advantage over the other existing rival innovations and ensure that it persistently leads the Information Technology sector. Moreover, this work will demonstrate how the position of the driverless car innovation has changed in the past few years and personal opinion on some the ways that can be recommended for implementation to ensure that this technology will succeed in the IT sector in the next two to five years period.

How Driverless Technology is Positioning Itself to Gain Competitive Advantage and Lead IT Sector

There have been rapid amendments that have been made in the legislation laws that govern the transport sector in the United Kingdom as a way of ensuring that the country will be well prepared for this outstanding innovation and make sure that these self-driving cars are entirely compatible with the Great Britain roads (Villasenor 2014, pp.34-78). A Modern Transport Bill has been proposed in the United Kingdom, and it has received a lot of support from the ministers who have tirelessly pushed for a rolling programme of reform. Autonomous cars have been manufactured in such a way that they correctly position themselves in the minds of the target customers starting from those companies that offer transport services all the way to those individuals who own private cars. Driverless cars have managed to create value and place in the minds of their target customers through the outstanding features and capabilities to transform the transport industry and take it to another level that has not so far been attained by any other innovation before. Below figure shows the kind of design that the driverless cars will be having which is entirely different from the one found in those locomotives that are operated manually (Villasenor 2014, pp.34-78).

Figure 1.0

(Villasenor 2014, pp.34-78).

Below are some of the aspects of this innovation that have made it successfully create a remarkable position within the market and gain a competitive advantage while at the same time ensuring it is the leading innovation in the IT sector.

Firstly, driverless cars have developed in such a way that they are the safest to use when compared to the cars that are operated manually. For instance, the developers of this autonomous tech have installed software and computers that can process any of the information that will be captured by the cameras and sensors that are strategically mounted on each of the driverless cars (Markoff 2014, pp.11-98). Such a feature has enabled the autonomous vehicle to become one of the most trusted transport means which can be considered as secure for use and have the ability to reduce the number of accidents across the United Kingdom and the other different parts of the world. To ensure that the level of safety is undoutable for its users, the developers have further incorporated a manual override button on each of the driverless cars which one only needs to press to take control of the car manually in case he or she realises that there are some technical challenges. Below table shows the world’s traffic deaths that took place by the end of 2010 in various regions around the globe (Peden 2004, pp.45-58).

Figure 1.1

Region

No. of World’s Deaths in Millions

1

North America

334

2

Europe

298

3

South America

275

4

Middle East

263

5

Africa

209

6

Western Pacific

197

7

South East Asia

191

Total Deaths in Millions

1,767

                (Peden 2004, pp.45-58)

Secondly, the driverless cars have been mounted with the autonomous emergency braking systems feature as a way of solving the rapid cases of road carnage in the United Kingdom which have led to massive loss of lives and destruction of property. In a combination of this feature is the incorporation of the radars which have strategically been fitted in these autonomous cars to help in monitoring hazards ahead and eradicate any chances of a crash taking place (Markoff 2014, pp.11-98).

Thirdly, the driverless cars have reliable and high-quality speed driving assistance system that can control the speed of these cars to suit the current nature of the roads, weather and traffic. For instance, while driving in open streets with limited traffic, the driverless cars with the help of these speed assistance system can accelerate up to more than 80mph (Reimer 2014, pp.27-31). The information to be used in determining the level of speed to be used is captured by the strategically located cameras and processed by the computers hence monitoring such speed through the application of the breaking point in case the traffic commences. Moreover, they can travel in bustling streets which have high traffic with the help of the same speed assistance systems.   

Fourthly, the driverless cars will have the ability to perform almost all the functions that a driver does which means that there will be a drastic reduction in the driver’s engagement with the cars. That will automatically make the drivers especially those individuals belonging to working class become flexible enough even to handle some of their assignments while still travelling. That will make them more productive, be in a better position to fully utilise their limited time and gradually help in the growth of the economy as a whole (Markoff 2014, pp.11-98). Below image shows a lady completing her office tasks comfortably in her driverless car which is something she would not have managed to do if she was using a manually operated locomotive.

Figure 1.2

(Markoff 2014, pp.11-98).

Moreover, by performing most of the functions that are undertaken by the driver, the autonomous cars will help in increasing the mobility of those individuals who have mobility disabilities. According to the recent studies that were conducted by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, from every ten people have mobility disabilities, six of them will enormously benefit from the use of the driverless cars (Moon and Donald 2007, pp.231-359)

The fifth factor that has made the driverless cars have a competitive advantage is their ability to reduce expenses that are typically incurred by the car users through lowering the consumption level of fuel. According to the studies that have been conducted, the ability of the driverless cars to operate at a lower speed and make minimum stops along the journey before reaching their destination makes it possible for these driverless cars to consume about 40% less fuel when compared to a regular car (Manawadu, Ishikawa, Kamezaki, and Sugano, 2015, pp.299-304). Furthermore, the low level of fuel consumption of these driverless cars is considered as a significant and compelling factor in the sense that this will enable the dramatic reduction of the carbon emissions that come from the transport sector.

The sixth magnificent feature that is making the driverless car have a competitive advantage and hold the leading position in the IT sector is the installation of the GPS receiver as a reliable two-way and high-speed communication equipment to help in increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the navigation process (Alheeti, Gruebler and McDonald-Maier 2015, pp.916-921). These features are making the driverless cars have the most significant and outstanding brand value in the market through increasing the level of trust that customers have on the quality and the ability to this product to meet their needs. Moreover, the developers of the driverless cars have mounted sophisticated black boxes which are similar to those that are installed in the planes to help in recording events in case of system failure or accident.

Another feature of the driverless cars that have enabled them to gain and maintain a high level of competitive advantage in the market is the incorporation of the human-machine interface which is composed of the different systems that can be located in the interior of these locomotives (Jira, Wingrove, Channey and Visteon Global Technologies Inc, 2014, pp.312-344). The human-machine interface feature is helping in increasing the efficiency of these driverless cars in the sense that they are creating an interface by which the occupants of such a car can interact with it. In case of technical problems or system failure, the human-machine interface will help in alerting the driver together with the occupants that the driverless car is going to pull over for the issue to be resolved or even call upon the driver to start operating the car manually.

Lastly, the efficiency of the driverless cars has been increased through combining the use of these sophisticated electronic systems together with reliable core processors. For instance, the developers have mounted the new Tegra K1 which is one of the most amazing and high-quality driver assistance core processor that combines the 192 GPU cores with the four CPU cores all in one microchip (Nikolskiy, Stegailov, and Vecher 2016, pp.682-689). Such innovation which has not yet been fully utilised in any other industry across the world is helping the driverless car gain a competitive advantage and hold a leading position in the ever competitive IT sector.  

Ways in which Driverless Cars Technology has changed in the Recent Years

In the recent years, the driverless cars have rapidly been changing over time with the need for more and high-quality features to be incorporated in this technological innovation increasing on a daily basis. The need to ensure that the use of the driverless locomotives is safe for everyone and that the potential for accidents happening is limited has highly facilitated the continued development of this technology (Bimbraw 2015, pp.191-198). There has been a remarkable acceleration on the development of the driverless cars with some of the giant locomotive developer such as Audi, Tesla, BMW and Google taking an active role towards facilitating the transformation of the driverless cars from risky to most convenient and trustworthy kind of technology that its users can rely on to help in meeting their logistics needs.

Studies show that researchers and developers of the autonomous locomotives started experimenting on how the self-driving vehicles can be used in the pathways in most of the streets across the world for over 45 years now in the attempt to bring the most innovative technology that people have ever seen before. The journey of the driverless cars is quite long despite this technology only surfacing itself in the public domain just recently (Knight 2013, pp.44-49). Driverless cars had undergone numerous improvement and advancements to make them have the features that they have today. A few years ago, the driverless car was lacking the features that could help them navigate the streets safely without a driver inside. However, this has drastically changed over time whereby they can move safely from one destination to another without anyone having to be inside while at the same time they have sensors, cameras and radar that can alert the owners of the incidents of system failure or dangerous surroundings.

Moreover, there are high possibilities that with the continued advancements in technology, there is the likelihood that this technology will continue improving over time to become one of the most relied on solving the logistics issues of the people of the United Kingdom and other parts of the world (Knight 2013, pp.44-49). No automation, driver assistance, partial automation, conditional automation, high automation and full automation are the critical stages that the development and advancement of the driverless car have taken.

Personal Opinion (Recommendations)

Numerous things can be done by the developers and inventors of the driverless cars to ensure that they have succeeded in remaining at the leading position in the Information Technology sector for the next two to five years. To start with, the driverless cars are built in such a manner that they have conventional pedals, steering wheel and gearbox just like the regulars cars. This fact is a shortcoming that should be eliminated to ensure that the driverless car as an innovation in the IT sector can maintain a leading position in the next two to five years. The best way to do this would be through eliminating these conventional features and replace them with software that can be operated electronically (Thierer and Hagemann 2015, pp.339). 

Secondly, to ensure that driverless cars maintain a leading position in the IT sector in the next two to five years, there is the need for the United Kingdom government to allocate enough resources as the needs demand to the Driven group which is one of the associates of the broader joint venture famously known as the British Tech Companies (Burgel and Murray 2008, pp.63). The British Tech Companies which is a form of the joint venture have been actively involved in the research on this remarkable autonomous invention and has been involved in pioneering any research activities that are aimed at improving the quality of the features of these autonomous cars. By the government adequately funding this joint venture, there are high possibilities that these locomotives may in the next few years not require anyone to be present to take control whenever they are released to the streets as it is the case now (Burgel and Murray 2008, pp.63). That goal will be achieved by the government making sure that the developers of this profound invention have enough resources to invent new ways of making this plan a success. 

Moreover, there is the need for the autonomous developers to develop innovative ways and electronic software that will help in ensuring the wireless interconnectedness of all driverless cars to each other such that they will have the ability to communicate with the existing road infrastructure in the United Kingdom and make reliable and appropriate decisions regarding significant aspects such as the duration of the journey and ways of eradicating incidents of traffic through the use of alternative routes (Knight 2013, pp.44-49).

References

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Knight, W., 2013. Driverless Cars. Technology Review, 116(6), pp.44-49.

Alheeti, K.M.A., Gruebler, A. and McDonald-Maier, K.D., 2015, January. An Intrusion Detection System Against Malicious Attacks on the Communication nNetwork of Driverless cars. In Consumer Communications and Networking Conference (CCNC), 2015 12th Annual IEEE (pp. 916-921). IEEE.

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Finger Pointing, Gesture Based Human-Machine Interface for Vehicles. U.S. Patent 8,760,432.pp.312-344.

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Manawadu, U., Ishikawa, M., Kamezaki, M. and Sugano, S., 2015, July. Analysis of Individual Driving Experience in Autonomous and Human-Driven vVehicles Using a Driving Simulator. In Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics (AIM), 2015 IEEE International Conference on (pp. 299-304). IEEE.

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Burgel, O. and Murray, G.C., 2008. The International Activities of British Start-up Companies in High-Technology Industries: Differences between Internationalisers and Non-Internationalisers. Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, 18(447.63).

Nikolskiy, V.P., Stegailov, V.V. and Vecher, V.S., 2016, July. Efficiency of the Tegra K1 and X1 Systems-on-Chip for Classical Molecular Dynamics. In High Performance Computing & Simulation (HPCS), 2016 International Conference on (pp. 682-689). IEEE.

Thierer, A. and Hagemann, R., 2015. Removing Roadblocks to Intelligent Vehicles and Rriverless Cars. Wake Forest JL & Pol’y, 5, p.339.