With the launch of its 2019 A8 in Barcelona on July 11, Audi is marketing itself as the first company to sell a Level 3 self-driving car. The technology isn't legal yet in many markets, but Audi says the new A8 will have the hardware and firmware it needs to wrest control of the car from the driver on a semi-permanent basis. At the touch of an Audi AI button, the A8 will give audible and visual signals that it's in piloted-driving mode. Once the system's engaged, Audi says the driver will be able to take their hands off the wheel and perform other tasks, depending on local laws. While the driver checks email or watches YouTube, the car will play abstract video in the gauge cluster. When it can no longer ensure safe operation-driving conditions, higher speeds-the car will signal the driver that they have 10 seconds to take back control. While the hardware will be baked into every new A8 from the time it goes on sale in the U.S. 2018, a constellation of agencies in the U.S. Here's how the A8 moves the self-driving car needle to Level 3 semi-autonomy.
The A8 has electric power steering that can be controlled by the car's computing brain. In the new A8, it also interfaces with an active suspension that's not a requirement for self-driving cars, but networks with their complex interface to make semi-autonomous driving smoother and safer. Audi essentially builds a sensory system for the A8 that lets it "see" and decide how to react to obstacles. At the front, an infrared camera handles night-time driving, while a monocular camera at the top of the windshield delivers an overall image of the road ahead. Four 360-degree cameras mount on the front, rear, and under the sideview mirrors; their data compiles into a surround-view image of the car and its environment. The A8 also has ultrasonic and radar sensors at its perimeter that contribute data used to describe images. A long-range radar sits on the front of the car, while four mid-range radar sensors emit signals and gather information at the corners.
An array of 12 ultrasonic sensors mounted around the car's perimeter handle close-range information. A new, single laser scanner mounts to the front of the car. Its combination of laser and mirrors sweeps through a 145-degree field of view within a couple of milliseconds to register obstacles up to 262 feet away. The scanner can read information even in bright sunlight, fog, and rain. In combination with the other sensors, the A8's piloted-driving hardware can create deeply detailed images of the car's surroundings. The information from all those data capturing devices gets blended together, and examined for accuracy. Then it's shared with a cloud-based learning field, combined with data from other cars, then re-consumed by the A8 as it drives itself. The system relies on the redundancy of all the information it gathers, so it can pilot the car when one stream or more of data is missing. The redundancy isn't based on strict formulas. Audi says this first iteration of Level 3 driving is very much based around commuting tasks, reined in by geofencing to situations where it's appropriate and safe.
When the system is engaged, the car determines whether it's in an area where it can drive under 37 mph, on a multi-lane road divided by a physical barrier. If it doesn't see those situations, it will not engage; if it's already engaged, it will revert control to the driver. Audi says its biggest hurdles are in detecting cross-traffic, pedestrians, and bicycles-and these initial limits dramatically reduce those circumstances. Level 3 driving in the Audi A8 requires a driver, not just a passenger chilling in the backseat. A camera checks to make sure the driver hasn't fallen asleep. If they do, the system warns the driver. If they haven't woken up, the car brings itself to a stop. There is a use case when no driver is needed. The A8 will offer a parking and garage system independent of the piloted-driving setup. The parking assistant will allow the car to negotiate its way into spaces and garages even without a driver present.
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