Audi will have an Audi A8 with driverless technology on-sale in 2017, according to a report in Telegraph Cars.
AUDI SAYS it will have an A8 with driverless technology on-sale in 2017, but that due to restrictions on the technology it will only work out of town. Audi recently showcased an autonomous RS7 on a racetrack and the companies chief technical officer, Dr Ulrich Hackenberg told Telegraph Motors he was “convinced it was running in front” of other companies when it comes to driverless technology.
According to Hackenberg, the new Audi A8 would be able to drive itself in traffic jams at speeds of up to 64km/h. “The next step after this will be going up to a speed of 70-85mph (112-136km/h) in normal traffic, which will arrive within another two years [after 2017],” said Dr Hackenberg.
Despite Hackenberg’s optimism around Audi’s achievements, he says a fully autonomous vehicle in all situations is still around 10 years off. That said, the Audi A8 with driverless technology will be capable of driving itself in certain, limited situations, like in slow-moving traffic and, if unable to process information will hand control back to the driver, warning them 10 seconds ahead of time that control is being handed back to them.
According to Audi, it’s developing the sensor cluster and zFAS (central driver assistance control unit) computing system required to make driverless technology work only for the architecture of its larger, more expensive models.
Are you for or against autonomous vehicles? Do you think having a car that can drive itself in, say, traffic would just encourage the driver to pick up their mobile phone or the newspaper, or is that the point of this technology?
Source: Telegraph Cars
