Imagine that you are caught in one of the many traffic jams that we find daily on the island of Montreal and that instead of raging against the ubiquitous construction, you can catch up on the latest sports news on your vehicle’s central display.
That’s kind of the idea with the new 2019 Audi A8. Audi’s flagship sedan, the new A8 will offer a function called Traffic Jam Pilot that is able to follow the pace set by other vehicles that are in the same predicament, slow down or speed up if necessary, and avoid careless motorists who would want to cut in your path.
This 100 % autonomous feature makes the 2019 A8 will become the first production car to offer level-3 autonomous driving technologies. There are five levels in total, the latter being a fully automated drive without any driver intervention in all circumstances.
The Traffic Jam Pilot system operates up to 60 km/h before the driver has to take back control.
Obviously, such a system requires a lot of components. There are 12 sensors, four 360 degree cameras, one camera mounted at the front, another on the driver to check if the he or she is still awake, and six radars, including a Li-DAR device.
Like any automated driving system, the conditions must be optimal and the lines on the roadway must be clearly visible.
