Audi sends its self driving car on journey from San Francisco to Las Vegas
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Every January, the technology world treks to Las Vegas to see the technology set to invade our lives in the year ahead.
However, this year Audi delivered its latest hi-tech innovation in a unique way.
The German car maker sent its self driving car on a 550-mile (885km) journey from San Francisco to Las Vegas.
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Audi has sent one of its self driving cars (shown) to perform an autonomous journey from the west coast of California to Las Vegas. 'We're demonstrating our leading role in the area of self-driving cars,' said technical development director Professor Dr Ulrich Hackenberg
The concept relieves the driver of driving duties from 0 to 70 mph, or just over 110 km/h, with a 'piloted mode'
The German auto-giant calls its self-driving technology 'Piloted Driving', and insists the sensors and equipment demonstrated in the vehicle are 'production ready'.
As a result, the company claims it is on course to put driverless cars into commercial production as soon as next year.
Elsewhere, to highlight the growing importance of self-driving cars, Audi sent an automated A7 'supercar' on a 550-mile (885km) journey from San Francisco to Las Vegas to prove the driverless car could soon be a reality on the world's motorways.
Self-parking cars are already in production and widely available, however the next generation of vehicles promise to carry their passengers on long journeys without incident or accident.
'At more than 550 miles of piloted highway driving with journalists behind the wheel, Audi is demonstrating the era of automated driving is nearly here,' the firm says.
The long-distance test drive of the Audi A7 piloted driving concept car will show that unprecedented performance can be achieved with series production technology.
The drive will take place from Silicon Valley, California to Las Vegas, Nevada to attend the International CES 2015 (Consumer Electronics Show), one of the world's most important electronics trade shows.„
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'The test drive from the west coast of California to Las Vegas demonstrates our leadership role in piloted driving', said Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, Audi Board Member and Head of Technical Development.
Before the piloted driving system reaches its limitations, in city environments for example, the driver is requested to take control of the vehicle to ensure proper safety.
The car, that has been affectionately been named 'Jack' by the development team, can initiate lane changes and passing manoeuvres.
The A7 piloted driving concept utilizes the latest technologically advanced systems developed by Audi.
The concept relieves the driver of driving duties from 0 to 70 mph, or just over 110 km/h.
The car, that has been affectionately been named 'Jack' by the development team, can initiate lane changes and passing manoeuvres.
In addition, the A7 piloted driving concept accelerates and brakes independently.
Before initiating a lane change to the left or the right, the vehicle adapts its speed to surrounding vehicles.
If the speed and distance calculation is deemed safe, the vehicle initiates the lane change with precision and in a timely manner.
The piloted concept vehicle utilizes a combination of various sensors, many of which are close to production ready.
The long range radar sensors of the adaptive cruise control (ACC) and the Audi side assist (ASA) keep watch of the front and rear of the vehicle.
Two mid-range radar sensors at the front and rear respectively are aimed to the right and left to complete the 360 degree view.
Laser scanners are mounted within the Singleframe grille and the rear bumper skirt.
The scanners deliver redundant information to provide detailed recognition of static and dynamic objets during piloted driving.
The technologies are production ready including their vehicle integration and cost structure for vehicle production in the near future.
Last year Audi showed off the Audi RS 7 piloted driving concept completing a lap on the Grand Prix track in Hockenheim – at racing speed, without a driver.
Before the piloted driving system reaches its limitations, in city environments for example, the driver is requested to take control of the vehicle to ensure proper safety.
A trained Audi professional test driver will accompany the media from the passenger seat for added safety.
Last year the German car giant let the car show off its at skills at top speed for the first time.
The Audi RS 7 piloted driving concept completed a lap on the Grand Prix track in Hockenheim – at racing speed, without a driver.
Audi scored yet another major success in the development of piloted driving: Before the season finale of the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM), the latest technology pioneer was running up to its physical limit, with no driver.
It took the Audi RS 7 piloted driving concept just slightly over two minutes to complete a lap on the Grand Prix track in Hockenheim – piloted with high precision and accuracy to within centimeters.
'The top performance by the Audi RS 7 today substantiates the skills of our development team with regard to piloted driving at Audi,' said Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, Board Member for Technical Development at AUDI AG.
'The derivations from series production, particularly in terms of precision and performance, are of great value for our further development steps.'
For orientation on the track, the technology pioneer uses specially corrected GPS signals.
The car has no driver - and is driven entirely by software.
This GPS data is transmitted to the vehicle via WiFi according to the automotive standard and redundantly via high-frequency radio.
In parallel to this, 3D cameras in the car film the track, and a computer program compares the cameras' image information against a data set stored on board.
This is what makes it possible for the technology pioneer to orient itself on the track within centimeters.
Piloted driving is one of the most important development fields at Audi: The first successful developments were achieved ten years ago.
The test results continually flow into series development.
The latest test runs at the physical limit are providing the Audi engineers with insights for the development of automatic avoidance functions in critical driving situations, for example.Driver assistance systems from Audi are already making driving more relaxed and better controlled.
These systems' highest level of development can be experienced in the updated Audi A6* and Audi A7 Sportback* model series.
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