Audi demonstrated its work toward driverless car technology with an autonomous trip between San Francisco and Las Vegas two years ago, and during this year’s CES the company offered concrete details of how the technology will come to market. Audi will use the new generation of its A8 luxury sedan to introduce features such as automated highway and traffic jam driving.
During CES, Audi and Nvidia showed off how this self-driving car technology is currently working in a modified Q7 research vehicle.
Unlike many current implementations of driver assistance systems, which take a piecemeal approach by using different systems for adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assist and collision prevention, Audi and Nvidia developed a central computer to process sensor input and make driving decisions. For production implementation, Audi can enable useful features but keep the car from full self-driving capability, until legislation and technical development catches up.
Automakers, automotive equipment suppliers and big tech companies are all working on self-driving technology, which could minimize the tens of thousands of fatalities from accidents that occur on US roads every year. The technology also has the potential to reduce traffic, decreasing pollution, saving fuel and give drivers more time.
Audi gave this Q7 prototype technology it will use for limited self-driving in the upcoming A8 model.
