What You Need To Know About Self-Driving Cars
If self-driving cars, 3D interactive screens and the ability to arrest murderers before they commit the crime sounds like a movie to you, it's because it is. (What up 'Minority Report'.) We're not sure if Silicon Valley has figured out the latter, but the first two are very much part of the real world today. Self-driving cars in particular are part of a fascinating new frontier of technology: machine learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Machine learning and AI have been a part of our everyday lives for a while now, and in increasingly creepy ways. But first, let's break down what the two actually are. Machine learning (ML) is an extremely successful application in the field of AI. What is AI?
How we typically think of programming is people setting specified actions and outcomes to machines. AI is the simulation of intelligence in computers. ML is a form of AI, where the computer learns on its own how to complete a task. The implication of that is huge: basically, no human is setting the path of learning for a computer — we've programmed the computer to learn how to do it independently, drawing its own derivatives and outcomes from a desired result. What does that mean? It means that the things we thought humans alone would be responsible for can be accomplished by ML. Using deep learning, which in turn leverages artificial neural networks, ML is accelerating at a rate that's never been seen before (even if AI's been around for a while.)
The implication of that is huge: no human is setting the path of learning for a computer.
Sure, AI is what's responsible for your Netflix suggestions and what Amazon recommends you buy next. If you use Siri or Alexa, AI lies behind the framework of that too. But machine learning is accelerating the rate of advancement of AI so much, that AI experts believe artificial intelligence can complete any intellectual task a human could do by 2025.
Case in point: self driving cars. Once a thing for cartoons and Tom Cruise movies, it's a bona fide real science thing that companies are in a race to complete first. Google's way-hyped Waymo already launched and drove itself around America, and most recently made its way to sunny Death Valley to make sure their cars wouldn't go kaput when facing intense heat.
And other huge car manufacturers are getting in on the action: everyone from the likes of Tesla, who promise an autopilot demo at the end of 2017, to General Motors who assure a fleet will be ready by 2018. And that's just in the years to come: Hyundai, Renault-Nissan Alliance, Toyota, Volvo, BMW, Ford and Honda all issued statements with plans of self-driving functions by 2020 or later.
What does this mean for consumers? Reduced human error means less likelihood of traffic deaths and accident-related injuries. It's also sure to change much of the social functioning of how we commute. Imagine a world where seniors with limited mobility able to travel freely and autonomously, children being safely and privately shuttled, even the everyday stress of a commute to work or everyday errands greatly reduced.
And how much do the makers of the technology themselves make? Not to take Google's (unusual) example entirely for stock, but one staffer eventually "had a multiplier of 16 applied to bonuses and equity amassed over four years." So, in short: a lot. If the national average salary of a developer is upwards of $100,000, it's safe to say that engineers in the realm of AI and ML make a heck of a lot more.
Interested in hopping into the new wave while demand is hot (and before everyone else jumps on board)? Pick up this The Robotics & Machine Learning of Self-Driving Cars course.
This course includes 20 hours of content and 82 lectures that you can access 24/7 if you feel like burning the midnight oil. Not only will you learn incredible ML concepts that can be applied to industries ranging from data security, healthcare, financial trading and more, you'll learn how to add in a little robotics and algebra to apply the concepts to self driving cars.
You'll deep dive into Python, and learn about linear regression, artificial neural networks, Support Vector Machine (SVM) and more — everything you need to start putting out feelers for a self-driving new career.
Get it here for $49, or 95% off the usual price of $1,000.
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