‘Piloted driving’ is the next frontier, Audi shows at CES
Audi chose the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show to reveal where its incar electronic strategy is heading — 90 per cent of all vehicle functions are overseen by electronics and this is going to grow in short order. Today, there are 5,000 semi-conductors or chips in the Audi A8 alone.
While some features highlighted at CES have been shown before, it was the first time the whole lot has been assembled under one umbrella. These assistance systems are closely integrated and designed to reduce the driver’s workload. For example, Audi connect brings the Internet into the car. The latest long-term evolution (LTE) high-speed connection gives the driver access to everything from a navigation system that relies on Google Earth and Street View to Audi’s online traffic information and access to social networks. All facets are accessed through the MMI (multi-media interface).
There are two key advances. First, a touchpad integrated into the MMI allows the driver to scribe the letters or numbers of an address or phone number without taking his eyes off the road. The touchpad is now mounted atop the main MMI control knob, which cuts down on space.
The navigation system is excellent. It brings the demanded clarity and ease of operation in a package than never needs updating — as long as Google Maps remains up to date. The better news is the cost associated with mining the navigation data via the Internet and a cellular connection is no longer an issue. Audi says the navigation system will consume less than two gigabytes of data a month, which would put it in the $20-range for most consumers.
Lighting is another area that’s rapidly becoming reliant on elec- tronics. The evolution is the matrix LED headlight. Here, a number of individual LEDs are linked together to form what resembles a conventional light beam. The advantage is the system can operate on high beam all the time without blinding oncoming motorists. The secret lies in the system’s ability to shut down one or more individual lights to cut the glare until the car has passed.
And so to the punch line — piloted driving. Yes, Audi says within a decade it will have a car capable of driving itself. None of the key systems that make up piloted driving are new. For instance, it uses the adaptive cruise control and its ability to stop the car and the electronics that give Audi a self-parking function.
One of the many functions in the system would allow the driver to pull up at a parking lot entrance, get out and send the park command via a smartphone or the car key.
The drawback to this technology at this point is the size of the system. Currently, it takes a roof ’s worth of antennas, transmitters and receivers to gather/send the data the system needs and a trunks worth of computing power to get it to work. Audi says that it will have the package down to a logic board that will measure around 150 x 75 millimetres.