Hyundai’s self-driving outfit, 42dot, has apparently concluded that pre-built HD maps are, well, a bit of a faff – perhaps even exclusively for the tourist crowd. Their shiny new Atria AI system, quite remarkably, tackles the labyrinthine challenges of city streets and motorways with naught but eight cameras and an end-to-end neural network. This clever bit of kit processes raw sensor data directly, transforming it into driving commands on the fly. Essentially, the car is just winging it, figuring things out as it chugs along. Which, let’s be honest, is either a terrifyingly impressive feat of engineering or, quite simply, the inevitable future of software-defined vehicles. Perhaps a bit of both, if we’re feeling particularly chuffed and slightly nervous.
