A human-like robot that can drive a car could one day be used as a chauffeur, though its creator admits that this may take at least 50 years.
Most driverless cars work very differently to a human driver, using artificial intelligence and custom mechanical systems to directly move the steering wheel and pedals. This approach is much more efficient and simpler than using a robot to drive, but it is also specially made for each particular car.
Kento Kawaharazuka at the University of Tokyo and his colleagues have developed a human-like robot, called Musashi, that can drive a car in the same way as a human. It has a human-like “skeleton” and “musculature”, as well as cameras in each of its eyes and force sensors in its hands and feet. Artificial intelligence systems work out what actions are needed to drive the car and react to events that often happen on roads such as traffic lights changing colour or a person stepping in front of the car. The robot can only perform a limited range of driving tasks at present, such as going forward in a straight line, taking a righthand turn, and moving at speeds of around five kilometres per hour on non-public roads. “The speed of the pedal or the velocity of the car is not high. Also, the handling of the car is not fast compared to human beings,” says Kawaharazuka.
It seems that a robot at the controls of a car, operating in real traffic conditions and in total safety, is not something we are likely to see soon. As mentioned earlier, it could be decades before a robot could really step into the driver’s seat.
What does “it” in paragraph 2 refer to?
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