How Self-Driving Cars Work
The technology under a robotaxi, in plain English: the SAE levels, the sensors, the software that perceives and plans, the maps and geofences, and how it is all tested.
The SAE Levels of Driving Automation, Explained
What SAE Levels 0 to 5 actually mean, why "Level 2" covers everything from lane centering to Tesla FSD, and why the jump to Level 4 is the one that matters.
7 min readLidar, Radar and Cameras: How a Self-Driving Car Sees
What each sensor on a robotaxi does, where each one fails, and why most companies use all three while Tesla bets on cameras alone.
8 min readPerception, Prediction, Planning: How a Robotaxi Decides
The three stages between a sensor reading and a turn of the wheel, and how modern self-driving stacks blend them with machine learning.
8 min readHD Maps, Geofences and the Operational Design Domain
Why a robotaxi only works inside a mapped area, what an operational design domain is, and whether cars can learn to drive without a centimetre-accurate map.
6 min readSimulation, Closed Courses and Public Roads: How Self-Driving Software Is Tested
How companies test a driver that cannot take a road test: billions of simulated miles, closed-course scenarios, shadow mode and the long path to removing the safety driver.
7 min read