(iTers News) - Connected vehicle technology leader Cohda Wireless has welcomed a Morgan Stanley report that predicts fully autonomous cars will drive on our streets by the end of this decade.

An autonomous car – also referred to as a self-driving or driverless car – is a vehicle that can drive itself on public roads with no input from the driver. With a combination of cameras, radar systems, sensors and Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers to determine its surroundings, an autonomous vehicle uses artificial intelligence to chart the quickest and safest path to its destination.

Morgan Stanley Research recently released a report called Autonomous Cars: Self-Driving the New Auto Industry Paradigm, after 10 of its global research teams spent several months interviewing futurists, auto industry executives and potential disrupters from outside the industry.

Autonomous Vehicles, long regarded to be the stuff of science fiction, will become a reality for both human and economic reasons. The report heralds the huge reductions in human death and suffering due to the almost total elimination of motor accidents as well as annual savings in the US alone of US$1.3 trillion per annum – about eight% of GDP - due to lowered medicals costs, less congestion, fuel savings and increases is productivity.

“It is now clear to us that not only are autonomous cars real, but they are likely to come around sooner than most people think,” says the report. “Basic autonomous capability is available in cars today, with semi-autonomous capability coming in 12-18 months and full autonomous capability (which exists in prototype form today) on the path to commercialization by the end of the decade.”

Cohda Wireless, along with its key shareholders Cisco Systems and NXP Semiconductors, are cited in the report as potential beneficiaries from this fast drive to autonomous cars. Cohda is a global leader in V2X (Vehicle to Vehicle and Vehicle to Infrastructure) communications technology.

The Morgan Stanley report describes NXP as a market leader in in-vehicle networking. “Interestingly, the company recently gave a thumbs-up to self-driven cars by making a strategic investment in autonomous car start-up Cohda, which specializes in inter-vehicle networking,” it reports.

Cohda Wireless CEO Paul Gray said V2X communications was an essential technology for autonomous vehicles. “Autonomous vehicles need reliable sensors to fulfil their potential,” he said. 

“V2X as a wireless sensor system that allows vehicles to share their sensor data with other vehicles around them. As standard sensors such as radar, optical, ultrasonic and lidar, are all line-of-sight, they can only detect visible risks.

“Cohda’s V2X technology is a non-line-of-sight sensor with 360-degree awareness. It can detect hidden-from-view threats, so it can extend the horizon of awareness beyond what the driver can see.

"It’s critical that V2X systems are reliable, not only between two cars that are driving down a straight road, but also when two cars are approaching each other around blind corners, over the crests of hills, at highway speeds, or when there are trucks between them."

The Morgan Stanley report also noted that “autonomous driving capability could change the auto industry in fundamental ways, such as shifting the value of the car away from predominantly hardware to a software component as well, thereby allowing new players to enter and forcing existing players to reinvent themselves or cede share”. Cohda, with its focus on software defined radios and field proven software stacks for V2X, is well positioned to take advantage of this change of paradigm.

Cohda Wireless manufactures V2X systems with world-best performance, able to detect the hiddenfrom-view threats better than any other system. About half of all vehicles involved in V2X trials globally contain Cohda equipment, including 1500 of the 2800 vehicles involved in the important Safety Pilot Model Deployment now taking place in the US.

This second-to-none performance resulted in strategic investments by NXP Semiconductors and Cisco Systems in Cohda Wireless earlier this year.