In the past some years, top tech and automobile companies are toiling hard and investing huge funds to come up with their own autonomous cars (driver less, self-driven) with full driving capabilities and safety features powered by software based intelligent systems.
Overall the idea is to create software based intelligent systems that are at par or above human intelligence and empowers autonomous cars with quick decision making abilities.
Such software based intelligent systems are largely built using range of technologies, tools and concepts including big data, GPS based navigation system and digital maps, algorithms, radars, lasers, sensors, video cameras, analytics, computer chips, artificial intelligence (AI) and much more.
However, the addition of machine learning into intelligent systems would enhance the decision-making power of these systems to a level that exceeds capabilities of human minds, which the tech and scientific world generally terms as "super humans."
According to Peter Steiner, Managing Director - Audi Electronics Venture, machine learning will give cars the ability to analyze and learn from hundreds of thousands, even millions, of driving situations to learn better than any human being can.
In fact, the German auto giant is working to develop a powerful smart driver assistance system based on machine learning, which Steiner informed to the media during the CES 2016 on Wednesday, according to Nvidia's official blog post.
"In one year a 16-year-old driver might encounter 1,000 situations with a four-way stop. But our systems will learn from hundreds of thousands, even millions, of such situations that can be stored, analyzed and improved from, so these cars can learn even better than a human being can," the blog quoted Steiner.
Audi like Google, Apple and Toyota is working to build its own intelligent driving system. For this, company is using advanced automotive sensors and connecting it with Google's cloud based mapping tool HERE.
In addition, BMW, Daimler-Benz and Audi are working together to collect huge volumes of data that would be used to deploy machine learning tools and techniques, which ultimately will help the luxury car maker to build a smart driver-assistance system.
Calling "machine learning" as the most disruptive technology, Ricky Rudi, Audi's Head of Electrics/Electronics said company will push machine learning and artificial intelligence, which will have recognition level at par or better than humans, Nvidia blog reported.
However, the software space around intelligent systems continues to attract software players. In fact BlackBerry is the newest entry into this niche software intelligence segment that allows vehicles to be self-driven with the power of software programs.
Unlike Google or Apple, which are both are reportedly working to roll out its respective autonomous cars, BlackBerry will only provide its QNX operating system to other care makers as a core platform.
This would allow auto companies to build respective features on BlackBerry's platform; however US auto giant Ford is already using BlackBerry's software in many of its vehicles, according a Bloomberg Business report.