Audi’s New Car Will Be Autonomous
The next generation Audi A8 is all set to become the first fully autonomous car when it goes on sale in 2017 – and the technology will be picked up by the new A7, A6 and Q8 when they are launched in a later date. The fully autonomous function, believed to be called Traffic Jam Assist, will operate at up to 60km/h (about 37mph) in congested highway traffic and – unlike any system presently available – fully manage the car without the need for input or monitoring from the driver.
Moreover, a separate Park Assist function will be available and will park the vehicle automatically even with the driver not inside the car, as long as he controls it using an app on his smartphone. A number of car manufacturers offer similar capabilities – BMW offers a remote-parking function in non-U.S. 7-series, and Tesla just added the ability to its vehicles, including in America. The new A8 will follow the lead of the present A6, A7, and A8 by allowing drivers to take their hands off the wheel at highway speeds for extended periods of time before warning them to retake control.
New Features
The next Audi A8 will employ more aluminium in its construction compared to the releases before, as well as components built from magnesium and carbonfibre. However, it is still possible that it will add several kilos owing to the autonomous technology and a designed hybrid powertrain. The new 2017 Audi A8 is said to be shown this summer, with sales beginning by the autumn. The German brand’s flagship A8 saloon is well known for its lightweight built – but engineers recognize that giving in to customer demands is likely to bring about a small gain in kerbweight for the new version. The car’s bare metal construction is roughly 50kg heavier than the structure of the current A8.
The soon to be released Audi A8 will also have the Traffic Jam Pilot, which makes use of a central driver assistance controller, or zFAS, with NVIDIA hardware and software. This system will provide drivers with the decision to turn over steering, throttle, and braking functionality to the vehicle at speeds of up to 35 mph when particular conditions are fulfilled, according to Audi. At the heart of the software are deep neural networks particularly intended for autonomous driving and recognition of variable traffic control signals. The car first developed limited familiarity with the road and environment with a human driver behind the wheel, by means observation and the inclusions of training cameras – this produced a correlation between the driver’s reactions and what the cameras themselves observed.