The video explores the potential and current status of self-driving cars, emphasizing their expected contribution to reducing traffic accidents and driver errors, which currently result in approximately 33,000 deaths annually in the United States. The discussion highlights the work being done by major automakers and tech companies, including Google and Mercedes Benz, in developing autonomous vehicles, alongside the technological advancements, and challenges such as safety, reliability in diverse weather conditions, cybersecurity, and consumer trust.

The video also covers the aspect of innovation and evolution within both the electric and autonomous car industries. It provides an insight into the role of notable figures and companies like Elon Musk and Tesla, and their contributions towards a greener, more sustainable automotive future. It touches on how both American and Chinese automakers are advancing electric vehicle technology, aided by government interventions and market strategies, including the approach of Chinese companies like Nio striving to be competitive.

Main takeaways from the video:

Please remember to turn on the CC button to view the subtitles.

Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. liability [ˌlaɪəˈbɪləti] - (noun) - The state of being legally responsible for something, especially in terms of legal risk. - Synonyms: (responsibility, accountability, obligation)

Google and Mercedes told us if their technology is at fault, once it becomes commercially available, they'll accept responsibility and liability.

2. prototype [ˈproʊtəˌtaɪp] - (noun) - An early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from. - Synonyms: (model, sample, template)

Google rolled out a prototype that jump started the competition.

3. algorithm [ˈælɡəˌrɪðəm] - (noun) - A process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations, especially by a computer. - Synonyms: (procedure, formula, calculation)

But the heart of what makes a technology work is the algorithms and the software.

4. autonomous [ɔːˈtɒnəməs] - (adjective) - Acting independently or having the freedom to do so, especially in the context of self-directed machines. - Synonyms: (self-governing, independent, self-governing)

Its autonomous cars rely on roof mounted laser sensors to see the road.

5. sensor [ˈsensər] - (noun) - A device that detects or measures a physical property and records, indicates, or otherwise responds to it. - Synonyms: (detector, probe, gauge)

Its autonomous cars rely on roof mounted laser sensors to see the road.

6. trajectory [trəˈdʒektəri] - (noun) - The path followed by a projectile flying or an object moving under the action of given forces. - Synonyms: (course, path, route)

I'm not an engineer, but how do you figure things like that out? The important thing about an autonomous vehicle is it has to have a very good sense of its environment.

7. redundancy [rɪˈdʌndənsi] - (noun) - The inclusion of extra components which are not strictly necessary to functioning, in case of failure in other components. - Synonyms: (duplication, repetition, overflow)

The way we think about redundancy, the way we think about the situations it has to deal with on the road is completely different.

8. cybersecurity [ˌsaɪbərsɪˈkjʊrɪti] - (noun) - The practice of protecting systems, networks, and programs from digital attacks. - Synonyms: (information security, network protection, IT security)

So issues related to cybersecurity and privacy are just as big an issue as the defect in the manufacturing process.

9. perpetual [pərˈpetʃuəl] - (adjective) - Never ending or changing; occurring repeatedly so frequent as to seem endless and uninterrupted. - Synonyms: (everlasting, ceaseless, constant)

Mercedes is planning for overcrowded cities, perpetual gridlock, and an autonomous car to drive the stress away.

10. disconcerting [ˌdɪskənˈsɜːrtɪŋ] - (adjective) - Causing one to feel unsettled or confused. - Synonyms: (unsettling, troubling, disturbing)

I must admit, I find it a little disconcerting that we're driving toward the freeway and you don't have your hands on the wheel.

Self-driving cars - Electric cars - Chinas electric car industry - Chrysler - 60 Minutes Full Episodes

Car accidents cost us much more than time and money. They also take a staggering number of lives. Every year on american roads, nearly 33,000 people die, almost all because of driver error. Thats the equivalent of a 747 full of passengers crashing once a week for a year. Self driving cars could save more than two thirds of those lives. Thats what the nations top auto regulator told us. Its no wonder the biggest names in the auto industry and high tech are racing to develop driverless cars powered by a form of artificial intelligence. Six years ago, Google rolled out a prototype that jump started the competition. Today, Apple and Uber are experimenting, too.

We wanted to see how far the technology has come, so we hit the road in Silicon Valley, the new Detroit for self driving cars. What do you have to do to make the car take over? I just pulled this lever, and now system is active. Computer scientist Ralph Hertwig runs autonomous vehicle research for Mercedes Benz. He punched in a root and took us for a 20 miles drive on city streets and highways in this s 500, the company's most advanced self driving prototype. So this is like no hands, no feet. Car is in charge? Yeah, the car is in charge. Right from the start, the car astonished us.

As we approached our first intersection, it slowed down and steered itself into the left turn lane. Traffic light ahead shows green. It's a german car, so naturally it has a german accent. That was the voice of Hertwic's secretary. So it just took off by itself when the light turned green. And now it's making this left turn by itself with other traffic around. This is absolutely amazing. Just two minutes into the ride, we entered a freeway on ramp. If you think a normal merge is nerve wracking, try it with a driver who's talking with his hands. I must admit, I find it a little disconcerting that we're driving toward the freeway and you don't have your hands on the wheel.

Shall I put them back on? Would that make you feel more comfortable? Herdwick gave us a rare opportunity to go on an actual test run near Mercedes. Silicon Valley Lab. Almost every major automaker is working on the technology here. Nissan has teamed up with NASA. Auto parts maker Delphi put its system in this Audi. It was the first to drive itself across the country.

Back at that merge, don't hold your breath for the car to step on it. This S 500 won't break the speed limit. Are you gonna have little old ladies driving up behind you, beeping the horn to get going, get moving? Some people have remarked that the car itself, in some cases, drives a bit like an old lady. That's fine with us for the time being, especially since the car has driven about 20,000 miles without an accident.

Mercedes made its name selling the passion for driving on the open road. Now it sees a future in the growing desire to be driven through traffic jammed streets. What's fueling this? People are increasingly asking for this. People probably have become used to live more with computers and interact with computers and they feel more comfortable doing this. And so all of a sudden we see this interest and, hey, there are certain situations where I don't want to drive. Can your car do it for me?

First you're amazed, then you begin to relax. Surprisingly, it took less than ten minutes to feel comfortable with the car in control. This is amazing. But don't get too comfortable. This is not good. Those beeps, that's not a sound you want to hear. It means the car senses trouble and needs a helping human hand.

Now, the vehicle asked me to take over at this intersection. That silver car got too close. This is, for example. I rather took over. It would have managed, but I really was. This was. That guy was getting into our lane. Yeah, it only happened a few times while we were driving around. Hertwig says teaching the car to handle encounters like that silver car on chaotic city streets with impulsive human drivers will keep his engineers busy for the next decade. I'm not an engineer, but how do you figure things like that out?

The important thing about an autonomous vehicle is it has to have a very good sense of its environment. A vehicle cannot react to something it does not see. So we have to be very careful that we see everything that happens around us. The car sees. With an array of cameras and radar sensors designed into the body, constantly scanning up to 600ft in all directions, we can actually detect more quickly that something is happening that make cars an accident than the human driver can.

So these cars would actually be safer, you're saying, than a human driver. That's what we aim for. That's what Google is driving for, too. Its autonomous cars rely on roof mounted laser sensors to see the road. In the last six years, its fleet has driven more than a million miles. We're getting to a place where we're comparable to human driving.

Today, robotics scientist Chris Urmson is the director of Google's self driving car project. He invited us inside his Silicon Valley garage, where the autonomous future is taking shape. Google's a tech company, not a car maker. Absolutely. But the heart of what makes a technology work is the algorithms and the software. And that's one of the things that we are really quite good at.

There are so many variables, so many different scenarios. How is it possible to put all of that knowledge into a car? And that's really the trick, right? And that's what makes this hard. You can't just kind of go through and enumerate the thousand different scenarios it might encounter, because it's not a thousand, there's an infinite number of them. Right? And so the trick is to develop these algorithms that can generalize. By generalize, he means think. And this is how it works.

The algorithms are trained to recognize other cars, pedestrians, cyclists and animals from their movements, size and shape. Each car's daily driving experience is analyzed, uploaded and shared. The cars can then make predictions and choices based on the collective knowledge of the fleet. Look in the lower left corner as one of Ermsen's cars encounters a pickup truck that stops to parallel park.

Now, how does the computer know that it's someone intending to back into a parking space and not someone who's just stopped in the street? Our cars have seen thousands and thousands of vehicles. And they get a feeling, you know, they get a feeling really, for what the behavior of those vehicles are going to be. Really. So it's seen lots of cars backing up. And so it understands if there's a space here and a car stops just in front of it, that means it's going to probably back into that spot.

My smartphone has computer glitches. My computer has glitches. How do you get people to trust that this computer on wheels is not going to have a glitch? We're all used to our bits of home computing doing funny things, right? And what you have to remember is they're engineered and designed very differently. The way we develop the software, the way we develop the hardware, the way we think about redundancy, the way we think about the situations it has to deal with on the road is completely different.

Right now. The technology can't handle snow. Google's cars can't operate in heavy rain. The Mercedes S 500 can't decipher hand gestures from traffic cops or pedestrians. 4 million mile of roads in the US must be mapped in ultra high definition detail. The automakers call these solvable problems. In the meantime, the car industry plans to automate the driving experience feature by feature, what some are calling revolution by evolution.

Infinity QX 60. The revolution is already being televised in ads. Backup collision intervention, which can break even before you do. In showrooms today, you can buy features to automatically keep you in your lane, help you park, drive you in, stop and go traffic, and coming soon, hands free highway driving. Tesla is making it available this month. GM plans to offer it in a 2017 Cadillac.

We are at probably the largest transformative moment in the history of the automobile. Mark Rosekind is head of the National Highway Traffic Safety administration. He is optimistic, but also realistic about this new technology. This is really different than just thinking about the engine parts and the tires. Now we're talking about cars are computers. So issues related to cybersecurity and privacy are just as big an issue as the defect in the manufacturing process.

Someone can hack your computer and steal your money, but someone can hack your car and you can die. People have to trust these vehicles. If they read or suspect in any way that they literally could be one virus away from a crash occurring, they're not going to get in that car, they're not going to buy it, they're not going to let it drive them. That whole future evaporates.

Rosekind also worries about a future in which drivers place too much trust in the cars. Think about how some of this is being sold. Oh, you can take a nap, you can read the paper. What would you do if you had to take over in a certain emergency situation? Nobody has that future totally nailed yet. Mercedes and other major car makers say humans will always have a role in driving.

But Chris Urmson of Google says it's dangerous to require humans to snap to attention and take control at a moment's notice. So the company stopped developing cars that put humans on call. Now it's testing 25 fully autonomous electric prototypes custom built for the job. So I would punch in where I wanted to go and it would just take off and go there.

And to take off, you press the little go button under here, pull away from the curb, take you where you wanted for safety. The cars max out at 25 mph. They don't need steering wheels or pedals, but they have them to comply with current California law. The goal of this is to improve the remote assistance link. Jamie Wadow oversees the engineering. She used to work at NASA on autonomous vehicles of a different sort, the Mars rovers.

Doing self driving cars here on earth is actually more challenging in a lot of ways. More difficult than driving across the surface of Mars? I think so. Humans are so unpredictable and so having to try to have a car who can out predict an unpredictable human is amazing and really, really hard. Google's cars have been in nine minor accidents in self driving mode. All the company says the fault of humans driving in the other cars.

Google and Mercedes told us if their technology is at fault, once it becomes commercially available, they'll accept responsibility and liability. But all involved expect fewer crashes as the technology evolves. For now, it's accelerating to the near future and beyond. This is Mercedes vision for the year 2030. The f 00:15 so we have an app, you can summon it with your phone. The car will start and come to you.

German engineer Peter Lehmann took us for a test drive at an old naval base on San Francisco Bay. The car's radical design was shaped by expectations of life in the future. You turned your back to the steering wheel. Mercedes is planning for overcrowded cities, perpetual gridlock, and an autonomous car to drive the stress away. Now you can relax or you can look a movie. So you have really gained time. I feel like I'm driving into the future right now. Yes, a future Google's Chris Urmson says is coming and coming fast. So how long before that day? So I talk about this, I have two children, eleven and nine year old. And the eleven year olds is going to be able to get a driver's license in about four and a half years. And my mission is to make sure that doesn't happen. We want him to have a driverless car. I want him to have a driverless car.

Technology, Innovation, Science, Autonomous Vehicles, Self-Driving Cars, Mercedes Benz, 60 Minutes