Audi has joined Volvo in taking full responsibility for any collisions or even fatalities caused by the Level 3 autonomous driving technology that will debut in next year’s all-new A8 limousine.
The Swedish car-maker confirmed in July that it will assume legal liability for its self-driving vehicles when they begin rolling out in 2020.
Underlining its confidence in driverless vehicles, which it says will reduce collisions, Audi has now confirmed it will also be responsible for the safety and operation of its autonomous vehicles.
Speaking at yesterday’s Paris motor show opening, Audi board member for sales and marketing Dr Dietmar Voggenreiter said the company’s first “hands-off, eyes-off” Level 3 autonomous production car – the 2017 A8 – will be almost infallible.
“Next year we will open up the world of autonomous driving in a real way, with the new A8,” he said.
“If you take over responsibility and allow the drivers to take their hands off, then you are responsible.
“This is the legal situation, it’s not big news. If we take the wheel and the driver is allowed to sit there and write emails, then we are responsible.
Currently, cars like the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and Tesla Model S and X already drive themselves for short periods before requiring drivers to put their hands back on the wheel.
Tesla recently upgraded its AutoPilot system to make it more effective and to disable AutoSteer when drivers ignored warnings to retake control, after a number of well publicised accidents and deaths for which it was blamed.
The next A8, which has been previewed by the Audi Prologue concept (pictured) but is unlikely to reach Australia before 2018, is only capable of driving itself at speeds of up to 65km/h.
“When you’re driving on a freeway in a normal urban situation at speeds of up to 65km/h, you’ll be able to take your hands off and the car will do the braking, the accelerating, the changing lanes, and you can really read a book or whatever you want to do.
“You can’t step away from the seat, but if the car detects a situation, like you’re coming into a construction zone, then it will ask you to take over again, but it will give you a 15 to 20-second warning of that.”
However, the German luxury car maker is so confident of its computer-contolled ‘Audi Intelligence’ driving tech that Dr Voggenreiter said it may skip higher-speed Level 4 autonomy and go straight to Level 5, in which drivers will be able to take to the back seat and read, email or even sleep.
“In the long run, for sure, we will see Level 5, cars with no steering wheels and no pedals, This will come and we are working on this technology now,” he said.
“It’s not easy to predict whether it will be 2020, 2035 or 2040, but from a technology point of view, it will be possible.”
Audi’s sales and marketing chief said autonomous vehicles will be relevant in all countries including Australia, where road markings aren’t always present, because in future driverless car tech will rely on advanced sensors and cloud-based real-time road information.
Asked whether autonomous driving technology would one day make driving redundant, Dr Voggenreiter said: “Yes, but the future will be much more differentiated.
“People will still want to have fun. Just riding in an egg with four wheels would be super boring. This is not the future.
“Maybe for the weekend you will have a share in a car and it comes to your house in autonomous mode, it picks you up and you go to the racetrack and the car is not only faster than you, but it teaches you to drive faster.
“Or you might get an R8 to pick you up and go for a fun ride on a track, or maybe on a special road.”
Dr Voggenreiter said autonomous vehicle tech would also play a big role in megacities in which car-sharing will play an increasingly large role.
Indeed, he said Audi did not have sales volume targets for autonomous vehicles beyond 2025, by which time ‘mobility solutions’ would play an important part of the company’s business beyond just selling cars.
“Volume is not the goal. The car market — the mobility market — will be more segmented particularly in big cities where parking and the fixed costs of owning a car will be very expensive, so sharing a car becomes more interesting,” he said.
“Are we going to be earning money with selling cars, or with mobility? Both segments are of interest to us.”
Of course, while some jurisdictions already do, the big question is whether various governments will pass legislation allowing car-makers to sell vehicles in which commuters can surf their Facebook news feed while on the move.
“In the US we see a clear trend to allow this — and in China — but in Europe we are a little more conservative and it’s hard to predict whether the Australian government will be the quickest to follow the US,” said Dr Voggenreiter.
“Basically we will make the technology available so people can test it. We’ll explain it to governments, tell them how safe it is, and share the data to convince them.”
Audi Australia’s Shaun Cleary said his company was keen to demonstrate the advantages of technology that could potentially eliminate 90 per cent of traffic accidents caused by human error.
“It will depend on legislation, some of which is state=based in Australia,” he said. “It’s a challenging conversation, but one that we need to have and we’re already having it, but we need to have a car to show the authorities what it can do.”
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