Affordable Autonomous Vehicles In The Next 5 Years

Introduction

As the world lurches towards autonomy, the question has become less “will we get there?” and more “when will it happen?” The answer is 2020. At least, that’s what many experts say. And while 2020 may seem far away, there are already cars on the road today that can drive themselves in some situations. In fact, you might even have one yourself! But if you don’t want to spend upwards of $70k or more on a brand new car—not to mention pay for its continued operation—it’s important to know where things stand today with affordable autonomous vehicles. We’re here to tell you everything we know about both luxury and low-cost autonomous vehicles so far: what they can do now and what improvements need to be made before they’re ready for prime time.

The cost of autonomous vehicles will go down.

Although the technology is still in its infancy, autonomous vehicles will become more affordable over time. The cost of sensors will go down as they become smaller and more powerful. The same goes for computing power, software, and hardware; all of these things are improving rapidly thanks to Moore’s Law (the rule that says computers double in power every 18 months).

The race is on between car companies like Tesla and Google-owned Waymo to bring their self-driving cars to market first–but no matter who wins out, one thing is certain: once autonomous vehicles hit the streets en masse, insurance rates will plummet as accidents become less frequent and less severe when technology takes over from human error.

Technologies like lidar and cameras will become less expensive.

Lidar, the system that uses lasers to create a three-dimensional map of the world around you and detect obstacles, is one of the most expensive parts of self-driving cars. In fact, it accounts for around 70{a5ecc776959f091c949c169bc862f9277bcf9d85da7cccd96cab34960af80885} of all costs associated with autonomous vehicles.

But as more people buy autonomous vehicles and demand grows for cheaper ways to make them functional, there will be an incentive for suppliers to develop better technology at lower costs. That’s where cameras come in: they’re much cheaper than lidar systems and can offer similar results if used correctly (though not quite as accurate).

More companies will enter the autonomous vehicle market.

The number of companies in the autonomous vehicle market is increasing. Tesla, Apple, and Google are already in this space but there are many more companies working on this technology. The number of autonomous vehicles on the road will also increase as more people become aware of their existence and the benefits they provide.

Autonomous vehicles will be used more often.

Autonomous vehicles will be used more often.

When autonomous vehicles are affordable and easy to use, more people will use them. This can lead to increased safety on the roads as well as reduced traffic congestion in urban areas.

Affordable autonomous cars are coming!

It’s not a question of if, but when.

Affordable autonomous vehicles will be available in the next 5 years. The technology has been around for decades, but it was only recently that lidar (a form of radar) and camera sensors became small enough to be used on cars without adding significant cost or weight to them. As these components get cheaper and smaller, more companies can afford them which leads to more competition in this space–and lower prices!

This trend will continue until autonomous vehicles become commonplace on our roads; by 2025 it is estimated that nearly 50{a5ecc776959f091c949c169bc862f9277bcf9d85da7cccd96cab34960af80885} of all new cars sold will have some level of autonomy built into them (although these vehicles won’t necessarily be fully self-driving).

Conclusion

As we’ve seen, the cost of autonomous vehicles is going to go down. In fact, some luxury cars are already available with driverless technology that costs less than $50,000! The biggest question for automakers now is how quickly they can bring this technology to market and at what cost.