Findings of the Inquiry

This chapter presents the findings of our study: It concludes that automated and autonomous driving can’t be attributed to a single inventor but many pioneers in the three regions. The global overview shows that two approaches can be distinguished, the first mainly based on the infrastructure, the second more on the vehicle. A comparison of the research efforts in the three regions is given, showing common elements and differences, simultaneous and non-simultaneous events. Transnational historical paradigms, shifts or turning points around pivotal years are identified. The historical periods started with guidance cables and mobile robots (1950–1960), a shift to machine vision approaches (1970s), the development of digital on-board computing and a renaissance of infrastructure concepts (1980s), and finally a trend to big demos together with a shift to assistance systems and military projects (1990s). While a direct comparison of the different robot vehicles remains difficult, a common historical trend is identified – from indoor runs with offboard computers to outdoor runs with onboard computers. After discussing the role of hardware progress, a historical timeline and possible lessons of history are presented.