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After years of anticipation, autonomous vehicles are now being tested on public roads around the world. As ambitious innovators race to develop what they see as the next high-tech pot of gold, some experts warn there are still daunting challenges ahead, including how to train artificial intelligence to be better than humans at making life-and-death decisions. How do self-driving cars work?

As self-driving cars take to the streets, investigate how they work, and if they are safe.

Look Who's Driving

To match human drivers, an automated vehicle needs to learn how to handle three distinct tasks: seeing everything around the car, understand what it’s seeing, and planning the car’s path.

There’s a lot going on ‘under the hood’ of a self-driving car.

Three Tasks Driverless Cars Need to Learn

Look Who's Driving Preview

To test self-driving cars without putting lives at risk, most companies do a lot of their training in environments they can fully control. But ultimately, the only way to know how a car will perform on public roads is to test it in the real world.

Driverless cars are being tested in private and public spaces.

Testing Self-Driving Cars in the Real World

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(This program is no longer streaming). After years of anticipation, autonomous vehicles are now being tested on public roads around the world. As ambitious innovators race to develop what they see as the next high-tech pot of gold, some experts warn there are still daunting challenges ahead, including how to train artificial intelligence to be better than humans at making life-and-death decisions. How do self-driving cars work? How close are we to large-scale deployment of them? And will we ever be able to trust AI with our lives? (Premiered October 23, 2019)

Stanford University

As self-driving cars take to the streets, investigate how they work, and if they are safe.

Tech & Engineering

Colossal explosions shake a remote corner of the Siberian tundra, leaving behind massive craters. In Alaska, a huge lake erupts with bubbles of inflammable gas. Scientists are discovering that these mystifying phenomena add up to a ticking time bomb, as long-frozen permafrost melts and releases vast amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. What are the implications of these dramatic developments in the Arctic? Scientists and local communities alike are struggling to grasp the scale of the methane threat and what it means for our climate future. (Premiered February 2, 2022)

In the Arctic, enormous releases of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, threaten the climate.

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A composite image of Jupiter using images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Jupiter ERS Team; image processing by Judy Schmidt.

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A transmission electron micrograph of HIV-1 virus particles (orange) replicating from the plasma membrane of an infected H9 T cell. Credit: NIAID, Flickr

Scientists have cured a handful of people of HIV by piggybacking on treatments they received for blood cancer. But does that bring a widespread cure any closer?

Look Who's Driving

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Look Who's Driving

Ethics and Self-Driving Cars

Can Autonomous Cars Learn to be Moral?

The Transportation Revolution Is Happening Faster Than You Think

Three Tasks Driverless Cars Need to Learn

Testing Self-Driving Cars in the Real World

The Self-Driving Uber Crash—What Does It Mean?

Google's Self-Driving Car May Soon Be Considered a Legal Driver

More Ways to Watch

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Funded By

Explore More

Look Who's Driving

Ethics and Self-Driving Cars

Can Autonomous Cars Learn to be Moral?

The Transportation Revolution Is Happening Faster Than You Think

Three Tasks Driverless Cars Need to Learn

Testing Self-Driving Cars in the Real World

The Self-Driving Uber Crash—What Does It Mean?

Google's Self-Driving Car May Soon Be Considered a Legal Driver