Less and less science fiction, more and more future. The self-driving car seems to be the not too long-term dream of the big car manufacturers, who are eager to bring the prototypes they are working on to dealerships.
The latest to make statements in this sense are those of Mercedes, which revealed that in August their S500 Intelligent Drive autonomously traveled the 103 kilometers that separate the cities of Mannheim and Pforzheim, thanks to a navigation system called Route Pilot. According to official statements, the vehicle made use of sensors similar to those already used in the S-class.
The autopilot version boasts a number of new hardware features, including a color camera mounted behind the windshield that recognizes stop signs, radar to detect nearby vehicles, another camera with two lenses to simulate the human eye and depth and much more.
In the Mercedes project, there is also Continental, one of the world's leading manufacturers of tyres, braking systems, vehicle stability control systems and other parts for cars and trucks. Group CEO Elmar Degenhart has unveiled a new partnership with IBM to develop a data management system to ensure road safety and has made it known that the collaboration of some Internet giants is now needed to share information. By 2015, Continental expects to sell 10 million radar sensors, up from 4,5 million this year. According to Degenhart, self-driving cars could soon become a €1 billion-a-year business for the company.
But it's not just Mercedes that is betting on self-driving vehicles. The French company Valeo, suppliers of car technology, presented the new Park4U system, which allows you to leave your car at the entrance to a parking lot and use a smartphone to place your four-wheelers within the markings. TRW Automotive Holdings promoted innovative video and radar systems for semi-automatic driving at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
Not even a month ago, Nissan stirred things up by declaring that they would be able to sell self-driving cars by 2020. And Volkswagen is also gearing up, mainly with the Audi brand.
“We have to proceed step by step – Ian Robertson, BMW sales manager, declares more cautiously – technology is advancing rapidly, but we have to submit to a legislative framework that is decades old”.
Someday motorists will take their hands off the wheel, but that's not something that will happen tomorrow. Further efforts are needed for safety: more powerful computers, data networks and, above all, systems that allow us to respond to emergency situations that autopilot is not yet able to deal with.
