Audi goes autopilot for 900km
It seems like all this talk of autonomous and self-driving or autopilot cars (call it what you want) is becoming a near future reality.
This after an Audi A7 3.0 TFSI quattro has been ‘proved in the real world’ as a somewhat autonomous car after it went hands-free from California to Las Vegas (in stages that is) – which is a whole 900 kms.
This very long test drive was witnessed by members of the media. The vehicle proved itself capable of providing a comfortable drive in everyday, real world driving, particularly in the kind of traffic that commuters encounter every day.
Audi said this was the longest drive yet done by an autonomous Audi at full road speeds with the public behind the wheel, each of whom was able to experience auto-piloted driving in 160 km stints in various traffic situations on public highways.
The test car used various sensors such as adaptive cruise (vehicle following) radar, side-assist long-range radar as well as mid-range radar front and the rear to scan left and right – which created a 360-degree view of its environment.
A high-resolution, wide-angle, 3D video camera, which will first feature in the next Audi Q7, observed traffic around the vehicle.
The Audi has also been labelled as ‘city safe’. The concept relieves the driver of driving duties at up to 130km/h. The car is capable of initiating lane changes and overtaking as well as acceleration and braking. Before a lane change, left or right, the vehicle adapted its speed to surrounding vehicles and, if the speed and distance calculations were deemed safe, executed the lane change.
We wonder when the first autopilot cars will hit the road officially and if this will change the motoring world?