Hyundai Uses AI to Make Driverless Cars Drive Just Like Their Owners

While development for driverless technology continues to march on, it’s been well documented that most Americans aren’t ready for it. The latest survey on automated vehicles from AAA says that 71% of people are afraid to ride in fully self-driving vehicles.

This leaves automakers grappling with an even bigger challenge than before: how do they develop these vehicles with the kinds of features that make people feel comfortable actually using them?

Well, Hyundai might be on the right track with what it’s calling the world’s first Machine Learning based Smart Cruise Control (SCC-ML) Technology. The idea behind this new development, intended at least at first for Hyundai’s semi-autonomous vehicles, is to customize the user experience so using autonomous tools still allows you to feel like you’re the one behind the wheel.

Say you’re the type of driver that likes to keep more than the standard three car lengths behind the car in front of you. Hyundai’s SCC-ML combines AI with smart cruise control into a system that, Hyundai says, “learns the driver’s patterns and habits on its own.”

The automaker says it’s the only way to meticulously respond to user preferences because, without the machine learning component, users would be reluctant to use semi-autonomous features like smart cruise if they didn’t behave in the same way the driver would.

Development included the use of sensors, like front cameras and radars, that were constantly logging driver behavior and sending it to a centralized computer. Then the computer would extract what was relevant to obtain a driving pattern. Because of the endless variables like weather and traffic patterns, Hyundai says there were more than 10,000 patterns to assess.

So it sounds like more drivers will be happy with their autonomous assist, maybe except for those with a lead foot. According to Hyundai’s press release, “SCC-ML is programmed specifically to avoid learning unsafe driving patterns, increasing its reliability and safety.”

Source: www.thomasnet.com