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Audi pulls ahead of BMW

13K views 46 replies 29 participants last post by  danmeyers99 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgN8MOrss40#!

With this capability, the ability to have your car do all the driving is here.

There's time yet for autopilotless vehicles to share the road, but the transition begins.

BMW? So far as hapless consumers know, they'll be playin' "catch up" on this.

On another note, anyone know how to use a slide rule?

Do you?
 
#6 ·
This could bring a much more literal meaning to the term "Blue Screen of Death"

CA
 
#15 ·
Oh No.... there wont be any "Ultimate Driving Pleasure" int he future

BMW tagline will be

"Ultimate Driven Pleasure"

or

"Ultimate Auto-Driving Pleasure"
 
#19 ·
Oh No.... there wont be any "Ultimate Driving Pleasure" int he future
Driving pleasure will be virtual reality, fiction or real, in your xportation pod. It's going to be all about you, the vehicle unfelt.

I tell you now, the days of no end to grip, lively competition among race part manufacturers, and in fact interest in traditional street performance are ending. Along with highway patrols, vehicle collisions/injuries, and shadetree maintenance. I shall grieve in the passing.

The new paradigm: AI, sweetness of ride, irregularity isolation, and silence, will be gold standards. Ferrari is dead. Long live Ferrari.
 
#17 ·
This sounds perfect for Audi and not for BMW. Although now that Audi has done it, BMW is sure to follow suit.
 
#18 ·
That car wasn't actually navigating the parking garage by itself. The garage was outfitted with sensors that fed data to the car to allow it to navigate.
 
#27 ·
On another note, anyone know how to use a slide rule?

Do you?
Yes, I do. Mine's upstairs with my electronic calculator collection.

I still prefer to drive than be driven, regardless of whether the other driver is human or not.
 
#28 ·
why does it feel like i am the only one that thinks this is so awesome! don't get me wrong I LOVE driving, however this technology is so friggin' sweet! I am really excited to see what the future brings to autonomous driving.
 
#31 ·
Really...

Just out of curiosity, and being a Boston driver, does this self driven Audi also have the one finger salute for when someone cuts it off? You know, flippin' the bird, raising the sign of stupidity, showing the one finger love? Also, given it is so intelligent, I am concerned it'll be consumed with road rage, what then? Does it go after the non intelligent cars like BMW or Mercedes? Heaven forbid it picks on the Toyota's or Honda's - what a bully! :rofl:

Seriously if I wanted a driver versus driving, I'd be ingenious enough to come up with a ponzi scheme, be filthy rich and hire someone to drive me around :D... Cool technology? You betcha. But just a little too controlling for me. (Reminds me of "Big Brother" er I mean Google where the technology becomes so good it controls everything we see/do, how we do it and simply has too much info that could control my life.. kind of takes living out of life and experiencing it)
 
#32 ·
Just out of curiosity, and being a Boston driver, does this self driven Audi also have the one finger salute for when someone cuts it off? You know, flippin' the bird, raising the sign of stupidity, showing the one finger love? Also, given it is so intelligent, I am concerned it'll be consumed with road rage, what then? Does it go after the non intelligent cars like BMW or Mercedes? Heaven forbid it picks on the Toyota's or Honda's - what a bully! :rofl:

Seriously if I wanted a driver versus driving, I'd be ingenious enough to come up with a ponzi scheme, be filthy rich and hire someone to drive me around :D... Cool technology? You betcha. But just a little too controlling for me. (Reminds me of "Big Brother" er I mean Google where the technology becomes so good it controls everything we see/do, how we do it and simply has too much info that could control my life.. kind of takes living out of life and experiencing it)
True for you but it would benefit some people immensely
- Those for whom driving is a chore.
- Vision-impaired folks (assuming the car doesn't need any driver input).
 
#37 ·
As long as other cars in the garage parked itself too. I don't trust other drivers or where it decides to park my car. I guess it can be better than some valet who mistreats your car.
 
#38 ·
I can see the self-drive technology be applicable in special lanes, similar to HOV, for long distance commuters where the driver can relax. Just have to worry about the bad drivers who use your lane or debris or unexpected obstacles on the road that systems like these will not be quick to respond.
 
#42 ·
Unfortunately my opinion is that this is inevitable, and is the way all cars will be in my lifetime.

I think computers have long since reached the point where we know how to build a computer that won't fail easily, and in many ways is less fallible than a human being. Navigation is good enough that we can drill down to within a few feet of resolution... more than good enough to reach any destination. And even for those who love to drive, there is still the daily slog to/from work that IS a chore. Sure, my Bimmer makes it more pleasurable... but I think it'd be far more pleasurable not to do it at all.

While I think there'll always be a place for cars that are driven, it's going to be more like track days. Major highways will have special lanes... even isolated lanes for auto-driven cars, and as the buying public shifts toward buying these those isolated lanes will get larger, and the lanes for driven cars will vanish. Soon, there will be highways that are "Driverless Cars Only" and that will basically spell the end of the driver's car for most purposes.

In many ways this will be pushed by efficiency, energy needs and cost. Why would you care how many horses a driverless car has under the hood? You only care that you get in, and 20 minutes later you get out at work having taken a nap, watched TV or surfed the web for a bit. It means engines can be incredibly efficient... a 1 litre or less diesel engine feeding an electric drivetrain perhaps. These will be cheap because they'll be easily mass-produced and effectively cookie-cutter. The first company to get these to market properly is going to win... not just the race to be first but quite possibly the lion's share of that market (so long as they don't make any totally idiotic mistakes).

We've already seen it with BMW; the battle for the hearts and minds of the drivers among us is over. Not won, but ceded because no-one cares to fight it any more. Cars are less and less driver focused in every generation, and that's because the general public doesn't want to drive. They want to go places, they just don't want that intervening task of driving.

Not saying it's a good thing, or even the right thing... it just is. And as I said, I think we'll see it in our lifetime.
 
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