Autonomous

If the thought of autonomous cars the size of giant cereal boxes alarms you, then stay out of Germany. Daimler announced that very soon they will be testing their autonomous 18-wheelers on Teutonic roads with the hopes of an actual product application within the next two years.

I love to drive, but I am also looking forward to a future where cars can drive themselves. I would love to be able to take a road trip and instead of focusing on driving and what the other idiots around me are doing, I could focus on the trip and the sights around me.

Freightliner is working hard to build future big rigs to save fuel and reduce accidents. Among its accomplishments, the company unveiled the SuperTruck not too long ago that is able to get 12.2mpg with a full load.

There’s probably a certain kind of driving that you, as a gearhead, genuinely wishes you had an autonomous car for: long stints of highway driving. I love my short morning drive to work. There are a good number of mostly empty roundabouts that make going to work feel a little like an autocross course.

I like to drive, and being forced to buy an automated vehicle at some point in the future wouldn’t sit well with me. However, having a vehicle that could drive me where I want to go, when I feel like giving up control would be awesome.

We previously saw candid shots of Mercedes-Benz’s F 015 Luxury in Motion autonomous car on the streets of San Francisco. The car maker has since released press shots showing off the research car sharply standing out in present day California, which you can see below. 

As much as I like driving, I really like the idea of autonomous cars. I can see trips with the family being much more fun if I didn’t have to focus on driving and could focus on seeing the sights with my family.

Hot on the heels of the government in the UK approving autonomous cars to be tested on public roads comes the unveiling if the very first driverless car for the UK. The car is called the LUTZ Pathfinder and it’s an ugly little beast.

Google is gearing up to make good on its promise of cars that can drive without any interaction from a human. I am a fan of driving and like to be involved in the process at all times, however, the appeal of getting in a car for a trip and being able to focus on enjoying the scenery rather than driving has some appeal.

Self-driving cars seem to be everywhere these days, lapping race circuits in Europe, on Florida highways, zipping around Silicon Valley, and driving from California to CES in Las Vegas. The technology may be in production vehicles in the next few years, so The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, decided to take a look at some of the pros and cons of having a self-driving car.

Audi has been successfully testing its autonomous vehicles on the streets of Florida and at speeds of nearly 150 mph on the track. But what practical use is it if you can’t really go anywhere? Well, Audi’s self-driving A7 successfully navigated from Silicon Valley in California to Las Vegas for CES 2015.

Google’s autonomous vehicle technology has been in development for several years, but the Silicon Valley company started off by testing its tech in modified production vehicles. Google has been working to develop their own platform for the self-driving car, showing off the technology and the driving capabilities of an earlier prototype in 2014 (shown below).

BMW will be bringing a new set of self-parking technologies to the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Showcasing the tech will be BMW’s hybrid i3, which is fitted with BMW’s latest generation Active Assist.

The design and coachbuilding group at Rinspeed will be bringing a new autonomous vehicle to the 2015 Geneva Motor Show, the Budii. Rinspeed describes the new concept car as a “friend on wheels,” with the ability to learn each day based on its environment and experiences.

Audi brought Audi driver and five time champion at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Frank Biela, to the Hockenheimring to sit back and relax in the passenger seat as the world’s fastest self-driving vehicle, the Audi RS7, took him for a spin on the track.