Conditions have to be just right to use Audi’s “conditional automated driving”
Audi A8 with Traffic Jam Pilot In the quest to sell the world’s first self-driving car, Audi’s just gone a step beyond its competitors. The new A8 with Traffic Jam Pilot will take over completely in a traffic jam and let its driver watch a movie or just kick back behind the wheel. On a scale of one to five, it’s the first production car to reach Level 3 autonomy (as defined by SAE), which Audi calls “conditional automated driving.” By Mark Richardson ▲
Loaded with technology Most cars that use sensors to help their drivers use a combination of radar, sonar and camera imagery. The new Audi adds Lidar to that, which is an enhanced form of radar-like technology that uses laser scanning to create computer images of everything around it. ▲
Failsafe system There are so many sensors that if one stops working, others will overlap it. They include 12 ultrasonic sensors, four 360-degree cameras and one front-facing camera, four mid-range radar sensors, one long-range radar sensor, and one Lidar laser scanner. ▲
Eyes on the driver There’s even an infra-red camera looking at the driver from the top of the instrument screen, to ensure he or she is not sleeping. The driver doesn’t have to watch the road, but must be alert enough to take over control if asked to do so. The camera can see eyes through sunglasses, but its images are not stored or shared with any other users. ▲
Trying it out We first went for a drive on a closed airport runway here in Germany near Dusseldorf, to experience what would happen if the driver cannot take back control for any reason – perhaps he or she would be deeply asleep, or might have had a heart attack. ▲
Behind the wheel If the driver doesn’t respond to a warning beep and a flashing notice on the instrument panel, then the seat belt will give him/her a tightening prod and the brakes will dab a couple of times. If that doesn’t work, the car will come to a halt and alert the authorities, the hazard lights will flash, and the doors will unlock for emergency responders. ▲
On the road It’s what happens when everything’s working normally that is truly remarkable, however. We went onto the autobahn to see how the car drives itself in traffic. An Audi engineer sat in the driver’s seat, but when the Dusseldorf congestion began, he didn’t need either his hands on the wheel or his eyes on the road. ▲
Just the right conditions Conditions have to be right though, which is why Audi calls this “conditional automated driving.” The car has to be on a multi-lane highway with other vehicles around it, there must be a barrier that separates oncoming traffic, there can be no pedestrians or traffic lights, and the speed must be below 60 km/h. ▲
Traffic Jam Pilot If your drive meets all those conditions of typical freeway congestion, as ours did, then it’s time to press the AI button (for Audi Intelligence) to activate the Traffic Jam Pilot feature. ▲
Eyes off the road The car will drive itself for as long as conditions persist – it won’t make you touch the wheel every 30 seconds, like other assistance systems, and it doesn’t even require you to watch the road. It’s fine to watch a movie or TV, if you want, just as long as you use the screen on the instrument panel, not your hand-held phone. If you prefer, you can connect your phone to the car and send emails or read FaceBook or even a real book. ▲
Lane keeping The car will drive itself slightly to one side of the lane, to allow motorcycles and emergency vehicles through, and it will keep a safe distance from the vehicle in front. It will come to a complete stop if needed, and resume driving when traffic starts moving again. If another vehicle wants to push in, then it will back off to let it do so. ▲
Cuts congestion Audi says this is not just more comfortable and stress-relieving for the driver, but it’s more effective at alleviating congestion, too. Cars can react more quickly to each other and there will no longer be a lag effect that brings cars to a stop behind other cars that have merely slowed down. ▲
Back to driving When traffic starts flowing more freely and it’s safe to drive at more than 60 km/h, the car will tell the driver to take back control: Hands back on the wheel and eyes back on the road. ▲
Laser scanner This capability is possible because the laser-scanning Lidar system creates images of the surrounding vehicles and infrastructure, and is aware of more than just where the backs and sides of everything are. It’s mounted in the front of the A8, behind the grille. ▲
Still experimental This system is not yet legal for sale to the general public, however. The law in Germany allows an ordinary driver to drive an appropriate Level 3 vehicle without being required to hold the wheel and watch the road, but no other country yet permits this. However, it’s not yet legal to sell a road-going car as a Level 3 vehicle if it’s capable of traveling more than 10 km/h. This is an international regulation, governed by the United Nations, that allows only experimental cars on public roads, with qualified test drivers. But those experiments are now becoming reality. ▲
Old-school technology Until now, the only production cars that offer any kind of autonomous driving have been Level 1 or Level 2. Level 1 would include a feature like cruise control, but needs hands on the wheel and eyes on the road. Most cars now offer this, like this Chevrolet Equinox. ▲
Driver assistance Level 2 includes more sophisticated driver assistance, like active lane-keeping and self-parking, as seen on the display screen of this Ford Edge. The driver does not need hands on the wheel for short periods of time, but must keep eyes on the road. Even Tesla’s much-touted Auto Pilot is Level 2. ▲
The next level The next stage after the A8’s Level 3 is Level 4, in which the car can drive itself, changing lanes and finding its way to a destination. It might need help in some circumstances, though, like navigating through snow or a flood. Some cars, like these experimental Fords that also use Lidar, can do so but only in small areas where the roads are mapped down to the centimetre. Automakers expect Level 4 cars to be sold by 2025, and perhaps much earlier. ▲
Totally driverless The final stage, Level 5, is totally self-driving and would not even include a steering wheel or pedals, like the experimental Google car seen here. It could drop you off at your destination and then find its own way to a parking spot. ▲
Costly feature For now, Audi and other automakers are lobbying for the international legislation to be changed to allow the sale of Level 3 production cars to regular drivers. Even then, only a few drivers will be able to afford them: the current A8 retails for more than $100,000 and a Lidar-equipped version can only be more expensive. ▲
Soon to be mainstream Technology, however, tends to become more affordable as it becomes more mainstream. The self-parking features that were only included on six-figure sedans a decade ago, for example, are now available on cars that are considerably less expensive. ▲
Ready or not… Whether you like it or not, truly self-driving cars are coming to a road near you, and the new Audi A8 is just the next step in this remarkable technology. ▲
Keyword: First Ride: Audi’s semi-autonomous A8