The big news this week for Audi—aside from the fact that its grandma makes THE BEST banana bread—is the autonomous car testing happening down in Florida. This is exactly what it sounds like: a car driving itself with no input from the driver. More specifically, it was a demonstration of Audi’s Traffic Jam Pilot, which handles steering, braking, accelerating, and not running into other vehicles at speeds under 40 mph. This would be most useful when you’re stuck in traffic on a street, i.e. a traffic jam.
What makes this cool is that most autonomous driving developments happen in places outside the U.S. Europe, with their fancy international currencies, hyper-efficient public transportation systems, cool-guy accents, super fashion style and acceptance of baguettes, has been making all the next-generation steps into the world of driverless cars. Given the prevalence of autonomous cars in American science fiction movies, you would think that the US of A would be a leader in this futuristic technology. While it’s true that the land of the free and home of the brave loves science fiction, we also have a healthy amount of fear about the impact of that technology.
Therefore, Europe’s precious “rationality” and “level-headed discussions” have produced organized testing of driverless cars, while the New World tinkers with ever-more elaborate $300 million movies that pretend autonomous cars could happen here, but only in Hollywood.
Audi made a big step toward changing this paradigm this week by testing an A7 in Florida. The test was made possible by state legislation. Florida is one of only four U.S. states that allow the testing of driverless cars. That means 46 out of 50 states make it impossible for testing to happen. Until more states get on board, the U.S. will lag behind the rest of the world in this next step in automotive development. Passing legislation takes time, and Audi estimates that its autonomous vehicle technology will be ready for the public in five years. According to a spokesperson for the company:
“Florida actually has some of the more favorable laws that allow us to test fully among all the states – it’s among the top two states for that. The hope is that, in the future, Florida could be a leader in setting favorable laws for this sort of technology – technology that could eventually save lives, because of problems with distracted driving, and especially texting while driving.”
We hope that North Carolina and Audi can work together so that we’ll be among the first to advance automobiles into the future. In the meantime, Audi is introducing all sorts of other cool technologies into its current vehicles. We would love to show you what’s changing and why your next vehicle should be an Audi. Stop by Audi Raleigh any time for a demonstration or just to chat.