Machine vision and navigation

Abstract

In recent years, the idea of autonomous vehicles has taken on importance since some automobile companies have decided to develop their own autonomous cars. However, not every “autonomous car” is fully autonomous since there are different levels of autonomy. Currently, there is a variety of studies and a great deal of research about autonomous vehicles and on how to achieve full autonomy; even more, these are not limited to cars, but also include research surrounding mobile robots, drones, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), and others. All these robots or vehicles have the same principles, in addition to having the same basics of the hardware. However, not the same can be said about the software because every solution requires unique algorithms for their data processing. In this chapter, the most important topics related to autonomous vehicles are explained as clearly as possible. This chapter covers from its main concepts to path planning, going through the basic components that an autonomous vehicle must have, all the way to the perception it has of its environment, including the identification of obstacles, signs and routes. Then, inquiry will be made into the most commonly used hardware for the development of these vehicles. In the last part of this chapter, the case study “Intelligent Transportation Scheme for Autonomous Vehicles in Smart Campus” is incorporated in order to help illustrate the goal of this chapter. Finally, an insight is included on how the innovation on business models can and will change the future of vehicles.