While each major automaker is struggling to come up with a fully autonomous driving car, a rather small company says they can make current cars to do the same using their newly developed kit that costs around $10,000. Yeah, right...
South California based Cruise Automation company says that next year it will start selling their tech that will transform your car into your personal valet for around ten grand. Their retrofit system is said to do pretty much what the system on the Mercedes-Benz S Class does.
The Cruise RP-1 kit comes with a collection of sensors contained in a bulge you need to mount on the roof of the car, along with mechanical actuators that will operate the accelerator, brakes and steering, as well as a computer to coordinate everything.
Considering Google’s technology in its own autonomous car costs over $75,000, you might think the Cruise system will have some flaws. And you’re right - first of all, RP-1 is authorized to be used only on some Californian highways, then comes its inefficiency in bad conditions like rain, snow and even night (they strongly suggest you shouldn’t use it at all in such times) and finally comes its availability.
The company said their system will be produced in only 50 units next year, but even so, you won’t be able to use it on something else than a 2012+ Audi A4 or S4. However, Cruise said the RP-1 kit is just a preview of a more complex version that will sort out the current flaws as you’ll find out in the video bellow.
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