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Introduction to Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs)

This post provides a short introduction to what do we mean by Connected and Autonomous vehicles, which are often lumped together and referred to as CAVs.

In very simple terms, a connected car has its own mobile cellular modem that can connect to the mobile network and create a wireless local area network which allows the car to share internet access and data with other devices inside and in some cases outside the car.

Autonomous or self-driving cars on the other hand may not have connectivity available to them all the time. Regardless of the connectivity, they have to operate autonomously and depending on their surroundings, should reach their pre-programmed destination safely, along with any occupants. These vehicles use information from cameras, lidar and radar to create a 3D digital map of their surroundings and use this model to navigate.

While autonomous vehicles should operate smoothly and safely even when they have no connectivity to the network, it will definitely help if connectivity is available. Within built up areas, the autonomous vehicles can get information from infrastructure such as  traffic lights, road signs, lane markings and roadwork sites to give you a heads-up about a traffic jam, road closures, accidents or even a sharp bend in the road before you can see it.

Anyway, the video and the slides are embedded below.





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