Audi Leads In The Automated Driving Technology

Audi is a German car company that is leading in the automated driving sector while its competitors are in no rush to follow the pursuit.

During Frankfurt car show Audi displayed A8, a car that could drive by itself under few conditions. The car aid the driver in changing lanes and doesn’t need the driver to keep checking the road. If an alarm beeps, the driver needs to intervene then. A8 has some innovative features but we can’t call it a completely automated car.

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There are many questions on the efficiency of the car as Didier Leroy, European chairman of Japanese carmaker Toyota asked that “Who will accept to pay for something that they can use only in extremely limited conditions? The fact that Audi is introducing this one now doesn’t mean that we will rush in the coming months to say that we are able to do it too. That is not our logic,” he further said.

Audi Company believes that users will be able to use all self-driving functions of the car by 2019. There is approval procedure going on currently from country to country.

Audi also wants to surpass Tesla, as their autopilot technology failed when a driver using it died in a crash.

Linda Bailey, executive director of the US National Association of City Transportation Officials said: “We’re very concerned about the idea that drivers will be encouraged to pay even less attention than they already are and that manufacturers are rolling out these systems without existing federal standards.”

President of Velodyne Michael Jellen, said, “When they truly launch a hands-free, driver disengagement system, that’s when we think (the industry) will have evolved. Today, when someone has their hands on the wheel and their foot ready to brake, I call that driving.”

As there is so much uncertainty in this technology, Audi says that it will take responsibility for any accidents or mishap that take place with its automated technology.