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66 Big Data Analytics for Connected Vehicles and Smart Cities Connected and Autonomous Vehicles 67

These statistics make it clear that the smart phone is a more suitable en-
vironment for emerging technology as its life cycle can support accelerated de-
ployment of new technology.

4.6 What Is an Autonomous Vehicle?

An autonomous vehicle is one that is capable of operation without a driver.
Back at the turn of the century (twentieth to twenty-first, that is) this technol-
ogy was referred to as an automated highway system, and significant demon-
strations of it took place in both the United States and Europe. At the time,
it was considered that the best way to achieve driverless operation was the use
of magnetic markers inserted into the road surface, although research had also
started into the use of video and light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensors
to enable vehicles to operate independently of the road infrastructure.
Today there are cars, trucks, and buses capable of completely autono-
mous operation using a combination of onboard sensors and computers. One
such vehicle was demonstrated at the Intelligent Transportation Systems World
Congress in Bordeaux, France, in 2015. The vehicle in question was a shuttle
designed to carry 12 people at a time with no need for a driver. Figure 4.8 shows
a photograph of the vehicle in operation taken in San Sebastian, Spain.
In addition to shuttle vehicles like the one shown in Figure 4.8, there
are autonomous cars from almost every major automobile manufacturer and
also from Google. Figure 4.9 shows a photograph of the Google autonomous
vehicle.

Figure 4.8 EasyMile automated shuttle in operation in San Sebastian, Spain.