With the rapid development of automotive electronics technology and artificial intelligence, autonomous driving has become an important solution for future transportation challenges. As an integral component of autonomous driving systems, the intelligent cognitive system has emerged as a prominent area of technological research. This paper focuses on the development and key technologies of autonomous driving cognitive systems, based on published literature. The architecture of cognitive systems for autonomous driving is typically divided into two subsystems: the environmental perception system and the assessment and prediction system. Our study provides a detailed description of the methods used in both subsystems. We then conduct a comparative analysis and discussion to evaluate their strengths and limitations. Overall, we hope that this study will provide timely and valuable information to a rapidly evolving field concerning cognitive technology for autonomous vehicles.