Robot-droven cars on roads by 2030

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Sicentists are developing the next generation of robot-driven cars and predict they could be shuttling (1)humans around by the year2030. The first wave of intelligent robot cars ,capable of understanding and reacting to the world around them ,will be tested this November in a competition run by the US Defense Adcanced Research Projects Agency(DARPA) Scientists are developing vehicles which will not only be drven by robots independently ,but will be able to operate in a simulated (2)city environment, "In the past it was sufficient(3)for a vehicle just to perceive the environment ,said Sebastian Thrun,an associate professor of computer science and electrical engineering at Stanford University. "The new challenge will be to understand the environment ,The robot must be able to recognize another car ,to understand that it is moving and that it will interact with it as it gets closer" Stanfotd's entrant(4)"Junior"is converted 2006 Volkswagen Passat whose steering(5),throttle (6)and brakes all have been modified by engineers to be completely computer-controllable. An array of(7)lasers fitted on the car bumpers(8),radar and global positioning systems feed data into the on-board computer(9)to determine its location and position Thrun predicted that leaps in artifivial intrlligence would lead to driverless cars on the roads by 2030. "Today we can drive about 100 miles (160 kilometers) by 2020 up to a million miles (1.6 million kilometers)"he said "By 2030 you'll be able to see them on the highway,with a driving reliability(10)that will exceed humans by orders of magnitude(11) "we believe this technology will affect all of us ,It is going to have enormous significance for people who can't drive becuse of disabilities or because they are ill or impaired." Thrun said he believed robot-driven vehicles would be deployed in war zones before they are seen in everyday civilian environments. "I think they'll be on the battlefield by around 2015."he said "It is going to make sense to use them in situations such as convoys(12).or hostile (13)environments where there is danger to personnel"