Photo: autogespot.com
Mercedes and BMW (in this order) may have arrived at the autonomous driving party before Audi, but Ingolstadt certainly knows how to make quite a show related to this. We’ve already seen the RS7 Piloted Driving concept terrorize its passengers and lap the Hockenheim at race pace all by itself. Now Audi has allowed the autonomous RS7 to be spotted with a driver behind the wheel.
The pic above, which comes via Autogespot, shows the RS7 Piloted Driving Concept, was snapped over the weekend. It shows a man taking the 560 hp A7 by the wheel and guiding it though the wet Munich traffic.
While Mercedes-Benz has a strong point with its self-driving S-Class prototype, we’re not quite sure what to make of BMW and Audi’s efforts. While the first brought us a 2 Series that could drift all by itself, Audi’s RS7 Piloted Driving Concept presents a car that can lap a track in a time comparable to that of a race driver.
The RS7 went round Hockenheim in a little over two minutes, using corrected GPS signals and a special WiFi connection, as well as 3D cameras capturing the track, in order to succeed. The images sent by the cameras were compared to pre-loaded data, with a computer determining all the required actions.
Sure, the showcasing of such abilities may be important, but we mustn’t forget that while cars are machines, they are not sold to other machines, but to humans. Us humans tend to include feelings and emotions in our... calculus and seeing automobiles automate all the fun track stuff simply isn’t appealing.
While the legislative side and society are not yet ready for self-driving cars, the technology itself needs to be upgraded. The latest example of this comes from Google, whose autonomous car project looks to be delayed by the multitude of issues which need to be fixed. It looks like we need another decade or so...
While Mercedes-Benz has a strong point with its self-driving S-Class prototype, we’re not quite sure what to make of BMW and Audi’s efforts. While the first brought us a 2 Series that could drift all by itself, Audi’s RS7 Piloted Driving Concept presents a car that can lap a track in a time comparable to that of a race driver.
The RS7 went round Hockenheim in a little over two minutes, using corrected GPS signals and a special WiFi connection, as well as 3D cameras capturing the track, in order to succeed. The images sent by the cameras were compared to pre-loaded data, with a computer determining all the required actions.
The past and the future of autonomous driving
Audi, which joined forces with Stanford University and Electronics Research Laboratory, said the project is only the latest development to come out of a decade-long project.Sure, the showcasing of such abilities may be important, but we mustn’t forget that while cars are machines, they are not sold to other machines, but to humans. Us humans tend to include feelings and emotions in our... calculus and seeing automobiles automate all the fun track stuff simply isn’t appealing.
While the legislative side and society are not yet ready for self-driving cars, the technology itself needs to be upgraded. The latest example of this comes from Google, whose autonomous car project looks to be delayed by the multitude of issues which need to be fixed. It looks like we need another decade or so...
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