20 PCB007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2018
cars will prioritize saving the people they car-
ry," according to Christoph von Hugo, the auto-
maker's manager of driver assistance systems
and active safety. According to a U.S. Depart-
ment of Transportation study, 94% of U.S. car
crashes are caused by human error, so while
there will be incidents where the computer AI
may be blamed, it is probable that the accident
rate will be greatly reduced.
From an economic standpoint, autonomous
transportation is already having a major ef-
fect on our industry. There is no doubt that
there has been a very large increase in elec-
tronic components on a cost basis in automo-
tive manufacturing over the last few years.
It is my understanding that over 25% of the
cost of a modern mid- to high-end automobile
is now due to the level of electronic content.
It is being predicted by some that 50% of the
cost of a modern vehicle in the mid- to late-
2020s will be due to electronics. Autonomous
vehicles will be a significant factor affecting
the increase of electronic content in the next
generation's vehicles.
There is no doubt that this will be one of the
most disruptive technologies ever and we can
all hope that it will be for the better. Just imag-
ine taking a road trip 25 years from now, com-
pared to the same journey 25 years ago.
PCB007
References
1. CES 2018: Disruptive Technologies and Fun
PC Stuff.
2. Audi and NVIDIA team up to bring fully
automated driving to roads in 2020.
3. Ford Targets Fully Autonomous Vehicle for
Ride Sharing in 2021.
Dan Feinberg is the owner and
president of FeinLine Associates Inc.
and the technology editor for
I-Connect007. To read past columns
or to contact him, click here.
Figure 9: Mercedes concept car.
