Self-Driving Cars

technology · transportation · robots · future

What they do. Self-driving cars use cameras, radar, and special sensors to see the road and understand everything around them, kind of like giving a car robotic eyes and a super-smart brain.

How they think. The car's computer learns patterns and rules from millions of miles of driving data so it can make decisions about where to go and when to stop, without a human at the wheel.

Different levels. Some cars today have self-driving features for just highways, while others are being tested to drive in cities and handle tricky situations all on their own.

Robotaxis are coming. Some companies are building self-driving cars specifically to pick up passengers and drive them places, like a taxi that doesn't need a driver.

Still figuring it out. Right now, there's no official rule for what counts as truly self-driving, because the technology keeps getting better and different companies describe it different ways.