BMW’s research group has released a video of a modified BMW 5 Sedan driving autonomously on the German autobahn. The car is equipped with lidar, radar, ultrasound and camara sensing technologies. The car drives completely autonomously on the autobahn. It switches lanes automatically, recognizes speed limits, and can cope with a wide range of unusual situations. As the project’s leader Nico Kämpchen explains this requires exact knowledge of highway lanes – with centimeter precision! All the sensors have been integrated into the car in an unobtrosive way to avoid spoiling the car’s good looks. The car has now logged almost 5000 km of autonomous driving on the autobahn. While this is a research project, we expect that such technology will appear in high end models in the not so distant future.
Category Archives: Automobile manufacturers
Toyota to show autonomous Prius at Tokyo Motor Show 2011
More automotive manufacturers are readying themselves for the driverless future: Toyota will display an autonomous version of the Prius at the upcoming 42nd Tokyo Motor Show (Nov 30-Dec 11). Visitors will be able to test-ride the Prius which is equipped with the Toyota AVOS (Automatic Vehicle Operation System). The system can autonomously park itself, drive to the customer when summoned, avoid obstacles. This is not the only autonomous car presented at the show. Kanazawa University, Keio University, the Japan Automobile Research Institute and others also present driverless cars as part of the Smart Mobility City Exhibition.
Driverless Prius
Volkswagen eT! concept explores application of driverless tech for postal trucks
Partnering with Germany’s postal service, Deutsche Post AG, Volkswagen Research Group has developed the concept of a delivery van Volkswagen eT! which can operate semi-autonomously. The driver can instruct the car to follow him – for example when making deliveries from house to house or to return to the driver for example from a parking spot. This concept provides provides a glimpse of how autonomous driving may alter some established business processes.
Volkswagen launches car-sharing service ‘Quicar’
Like Daimler and BMW, now Volkswagen positions itself in the car-sharing space. It will launch its ‘Quicar‘ car-sharing service in Hannover, Germany on November 16th with about 200 Volkswagen cars and initially about 50 stations where users can pick up the cars.
Costs run at about 0.20 euros per minute with a minimum of 6 euros. Volkswagen has developed their own telematics software and provides mobile phone apps for booking the cars.
This is an important move for the company and an acknowledgement of the looming threats to the established ownership-oriented business model which currently dominates the automotive industry. Car-sharing is viewed more and more positively among the younger generation, but the more important reason (though not yet explicitly stated) may be that autonomous cars are on the horizon. Once they are introduced, they will greatly increase the appeal of car-sharing and significantly lower total mobility costs for car-sharing customers. Car-sharing with autonomous cars is the business model of the future for the automotive industry: Volkswagen is making the first steps to prepare for this tectonic shift.
More Information: