Hope to see AI-driven vehicles in the future

In more ways than one, artificial intelligence plays the driver’s role in an unmanned bus. The reactors installed at the front and sides of the bus collect information from road signs and objects, send it to the central processor, which then makes judgments and controls the bus.

AI could be a “better driver” than humans because its reaction time is much shorter than human’s. When something appears on the road, it can make a judgment in milliseconds, or onethousandth of a second, whereas it takes the human brain at least 0.1 second to react. Also, AI never gets tired and there is no fear of it driving under the influence, and thus it could be more reliable than human drivers.

However, the test in Shenzhen was conducted on an experimental road. And there are much more uncertainties on real roads, such as rash driving by some people.

The biggest problem for AI is not in learning to recognize road signs, but in taking instinctive action during emergencies. So Zhou Xin, a senior engineer at the Institute of Software, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Zhou Xin