The technology in today’s cars as the raw material for the cars of tomorrow? Why is sustainability particularly important when it comes to autonomous driving?
Autonomous driving is continuing its triumph more slowly than was previously the case. Costs play a significant role here. It’s not just the research that has cost incredible sums of money, it’s also the sensors that make the technology so expensive.
Series production should solve this problem. The initial hope was that serial production of the sensors would reduce costs. But the Lidar sensors remain expensive, despite all efforts. Some manufacturers like Tesla rely primarily on cameras. Although these are cheaper, determining the distance is more difficult with these sensors.
New considerations will probably have to be made in the production of these vehicles and the old vehicles will have to be recycled. Not only their raw materials, but also the sensors could serve several cars. These would then have to be adapted to the respective updates. This is particularly interesting when it comes to pure software updates. Perhaps one day the hardware will be so sophisticated that optimization can be achieved using software alone.
Efforts are already being made to record the entire lifespan of a car. With this data you could dismantle the car after its life and, above all, give the sensors a new home. After about twelve to 14 years, a car is taken out of service. The cars twelve years ago already contained chips that could still be used for certain systems. Maybe no longer for the evaluation of the sensors, but possibly for entertainment or perhaps across industries such as kitchen appliances.
The recycling concept does not only apply to vehicles that are taken out of service in good condition. What about the vehicles that end up in the scrapyard earlier than planned? Specifically, it’s about cars that have been involved in accidents. Even with autonomous driving, accidents cannot be ruled out. Like the case around Cruise explained, there is still a lot to be done and whether there will ever be no more traffic accidents remains a crystal ball picture.
The use of vehicle resources is not a thing of the future. Already today Can you sell a damaged car?. The days of simply scrapping vehicles are coming to an end Just demolish the house, an imminent end. And sometimes the house doesn’t even have to be demolished.
Sustainability is not only a question of efficiency and environmental protection, but also a question of costs. And money plays an important component, especially when it comes to autonomous driving.