Before introducing autonomous vehicles, I would like to first introduce the history and its development.
In fact, autonomous driving is not a new concept, and the earliest form of autonomous driving can be traced back to 1920 when radio-controlled vehicles were used to control the operation of cars. After 60 years, the world’s first autonomous vehicle prototype appeared. However, until the DARPA Autonomous Vehicle Challenge in 2004, this concept became a reality and gradually became known to people. In 2009, Google’s Waymo was officially launched, and further development of autonomous driving technology was promoted. After 2013, many large automobile manufacturers began to develop their own autonomous vehicle technology.
Putting autonomous technology in cars is currently a hot topic and a future development direction, but this technology can also be applied to other areas, such as the current popularity of robotic vacuum cleaners. With this technology, they can move and clean the floor independently, equipped with perception devices such as cameras, to avoid obstacles. Of course, autonomous driving technology is also used in the food and beverage industry, such as unmanned food delivery.
There are many benefits of using autonomous technology. According to statistics, 90% of road traffic accidents are caused by human error, with distractions, fatigue, drunk driving, and speeding accounting for a significant proportion. Every year, 1.3 million people die in traffic accidents worldwide. The use of autonomous technology can reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by traffic accidents.
Currently, the development of autonomous driving in Hong Kong is relatively lagging behind because of its complex terrain and uneven topography, making it more difficult to develop. However, the government is actively promoting the development of autonomous driving, including the recent launch of the pilot program for unmanned vehicles and the formulation of relevant policies for the testing and application of autonomous vehicles. Of course, other countries are also constantly promoting the development of autonomous driving, including Japan’s conditional opening of Level 3 passenger cars and Germany’s passing of the world’s first Level 4 autonomous driving law.