Audi A8 will be the first Level 3 autonomous car on the road

[HEXUS]

Nvidia powered systems will power the AI driver assistance and pack the virtual cockpit (in 2018).

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[KrisWragg]

From what I'd read this won't be enabled straight away, I doubt we'll see it until late 2018. Also technically the Tesla's can do this also up to 45mph as only above those speeds does it require you to hold the steering wheel.

I ordered a Tesla Model S that's due in a month or so, whilst I'm sure the A8 will be a lovely car I don't regret my choice, fully electric and full of tech it's going to be great

[Ttaskmaster]

I know what modern cars are like, though... The instant something goes wrong, breaks or just wears out, it will be a complete nightmare trying to track the flippin' fault down!!

And whoever is designing these cabins, will they please do a better job?

[nichomach]

[Corky34]

While I've no doubt some people are completely comfortable with autonomous cars i don't see them having mass appeal, i suspect most people will have difficulty giving up partial control for levels 2 and 3, both those levels require the human component to work together with the machine, something history has shown humans struggle with, both level 2 and 3 risk humans depending on the machine too much and not being willing or ready to take control in an emergency.

[DanceswithUnix]

While I've no doubt some people are completely comfortable with autonomous cars i don't see them having mass appeal, i suspect most people will have difficulty giving up partial control for levels 2 and 3, both those levels require the human component to work together with the machine, something history has shown humans struggle with, both level 2 and 3 risk humans depending on the machine too much and not being willing or ready to take control in an emergency.

I presume that like Tesla these cars will be reporting back to VAG what they are up to? That is the real value of the Tesla autopilot, it generates masses of test and training data to get level 4 working, and the existance of that data at Tesla is why I think they will be the first to get there.

Getting wealthy owners to pay to collect data for you is a neat trick if you can manage it

[cheesemp]

While I've no doubt some people are completely comfortable with autonomous cars i don't see them having mass appeal, i suspect most people will have difficulty giving up partial control for levels 2 and 3, both those levels require the human component to work together with the machine, something history has shown humans struggle with, both level 2 and 3 risk humans depending on the machine too much and not being willing or ready to take control in an emergency.

I can't wait to the day my car can drive me into work! 1 hour a day back and a lot less stress. Be awhile before I can afford it (looks at 7 year old i20) but once I can I will! Just hoping this tech makes it into the mainstream fast (new leaf is supposed to be autonomous so maybe I can afford it sooner rather than later???)

[Smudger]

At the moment, the only time I'd want an autonomous car would be to get me home from the pub when I'm smashed. And this happens so rarely now, it wouldn't be worth it.

The rest of the time, I want to be in control. I even get frustrated when my wife is driving me.

[jimbouk]

I can't wait to the day my car can drive me into work! 1 hour a day back and a lot less stress. Be awhile before I can afford it (looks at 7 year old i20) but once I can I will! Just hoping this tech makes it into the mainstream fast (new leaf is supposed to be autonomous so maybe I can afford it sooner rather than later???)

But then we must ask in 10 years will you have to drive an hour to work? Slip on your lightweight AR glasses, interact seamlessly with colleagues and remote operate machinery for any 'hands on' work...

[Corky34]

I can't wait to the day my car can drive me into work! 1 hour a day back and a lot less stress.

With level 2 you'd probably be more stressed, spending an hour a day constantly watching what your cars doing sounds like being a chaperone for a provisional licence holder, sure they maybe a really good driver but ultimately you're responsible for everything they do.

[cheesemp]

But then we must ask in 10 years will you have to drive an hour to work? Slip on your lightweight AR glasses, interact seamlessly with colleagues and remote operate machinery for any 'hands on' work...

I believe it when I see it - The software house I work doesn't like working from home so I doubt this will happen any time soon...

With level 2 you'd probably be more stressed, spending an hour a day constantly watching what your cars doing sounds like being a chaperone for a provisional licence holder, sure they maybe a really good driver but ultimately you're responsible for everything they do.

Level 2 is basically just intelligent cruise control. I'll wait for level 3 when the car can do the jams on the M27/M271...

[DanceswithUnix]

Slip on your lightweight AR glasses, interact seamlessly with colleagues and remote operate machinery for any 'hands on' work...

You could do that from the back seat of your self driving car. Probably don't want to be waving your arms around in the front when distracted by AR

I do wonder when the legislation will happen for the next level though. If I get to work and tell the car to go park & charge itself elsewhere as the car park is full, if the car with no-one in it gets caught speeding, who gets the fine?

[Lucio]

At the moment, the only time I'd want an autonomous car would be to get me home from the pub when I'm smashed. And this happens so rarely now, it wouldn't be worth it.

The rest of the time, I want to be in control. I even get frustrated when my wife is driving me.

I'd be surprised if vehicles ever reach this point, without some form of "road grid" technology to manage the traffic on a local and regional level, where you can have no human legally responsible for the driving. Until then, whomever behind the wheel will be required to be able to assume control of the vehicle.

[DanceswithUnix]

I'd be surprised if vehicles ever reach this point, without some form of "road grid" technology to manage the traffic on a local and regional level, where you can have no human legally responsible for the driving. Until then, whomever behind the wheel will be required to be able to assume control of the vehicle.

From the quality of some of the driving out there, I would say the bar is pretty low.

[nobodyspecial]

I want to drive (or rather NOT drive) from the back seat (LOL) and sip booze all day while waving at cops, so I guess I need L4 or bust. I have no use for a version I have to take back over for at any point in the ride. I want the limo experience from my $20K car every day...ROFL. It's coming, but probably 2020 or so at the rate we keep moving. Once a bunch of these things get on the road and start taking down massive data, L4 will be right around the corner. 2022 tops IMHO. Tech these days is moving at the speed of light it seems. For example, DDR3 (7yr life), DDR4 (5yr), and who knows how long DDR5 will be with us. Graphics memory has even worse lifespans. Mobile tech same story. Your mobile phone seems old in 2yrs, yet that used to take 3-5 to say that (depending on the person I guess). I could go on, but if you look at what you got 5yrs ago and 10yrs ago, those products are vastly different than today (in perf, features, etc).

I can't wait for my new car... I don't usually enjoy spending money on crap like cars (it's just a point A to B thing for me, other than that a huge waste of my money), but this is one feature I can really get behind. I'd also like a mandated insurance drop for anyone using one of these cars, but something tells me it will be like CD games etc. The price was SUPPOSED to drop when they could just ship a disc (instead of tons of floppies) and give a PDF manual instead of printing one. But what you ended up with is no price drop and even higher prices after said manual and floppies were removed from the picture. In the USA, we can probably expect a TAX for going driver-less...LOL. I can hear the argument already: "fees from tickets and DUII's are down so much we now have to charge you taxes for being safer". It might even sound dumber than that if Pelosi ("you have to pass it to find out what's in it"...ROFL - This fool still doesn't know what is in Obamacare 7yrs later...LOL) and other idiots like her are still around at that time. Bring on the new cars anyway though, despite the idiots running (ruining?) my country (both sides of the isle).

[DanceswithUnix]

Until then, whomever behind the wheel will be required to be able to assume control of the vehicle.

I have heard stories of a long departed relative from many many years ago who was a milkman with a horse drawn cart. Supposedly the horse would take him home if he had been to the pub, as the horse knew the way. I sometimes wonder if we have really come such a long way when our ancestors trained neural nets by giving them a sugar cube, seems much easier than matrix differentials