We’ve all heard about the next generation of cars which can drive themselves freeing the human driver to do what he wants during the commute time. Google’s self driving cars have been on the road for a few years now, and other companies around the world have been designing and testing prototypes as well.

What then are the biggest challenges to design a car that can drive itself? The primary challenge is sensing the environment around it. The surroundings look different to the car when it’s a sunny day and when it’s foggy. This makes it tougher for the car to determine what lies on the road.

The next big challenge is unexpected encounters. A human being has no trouble switching from following traffic lights to being guided by a traffic cop. However the car will need sometime to accept and adjust to this simple change.

Designers are also challenged by the fact that the human in the car needs to interact with it to let it know his wishes. It’s not always a simple drive from destination A to B. There could be an unscheduled stop C or a detour to D that the human wants to make. The car needs to be able to handle these requests promptly and efficiently.

Needless to say these designers have a huge science project on their hands before the self driving cars take over the world’s roads.