New AI method makes self-driving vehicles better drivers

In traffic, humans are used to constantly anticipating what will happen next. This reasoning ability is something that today’s self-driving vehicles and AI systems in general are lacking. In a recent study, together with colleagues in Germany and India, Mehul Bhatt has shown that combining modern neural learning with common-sense reasoning can overcome some of the pitfalls ailing self-driving vehicles today. The study was published in the Artificial Intelligence journal (AIJ).

« The developed AI method results in self-driving vehicles learning to understand the world much like humans. With understanding also comes the ability to explain decisions, » says Mehul Bhatt.

As a result, self-driving vehicles can recognize that a cyclist hidden behind a car for a few seconds still exists until it reappears. The approach enables self-driving vehicles to demonstrate a wide range of similar human-like common-sense capabilities. Such capabilities have not been achievable in self-driving vehicles or other AI technologies that are based on machine learning alone.

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