- Regional Debut for the Audi A8 in the Middle East
- Audi RS 7 autonomous driving concept on display
- Dr Miklos Kiss, Head of Predevelopment Driver Assistance Systems at Audi AG, to speak for the second time on the steps that Audi is making for the future of autonomous driving
Dubai, November 1, 2017 – At the 2017 Future Mobility Forum, to be held on 7th and 8th November at the Grand Hyatt Hotel Dubai, Audi is participating for a second time as a key sponsor and Dr Miklos Kiss, Head of Predevelopment Driver Assistance Systems, has again been invited to speak to the audience of automotive decision makers in the Middle East on the topic of Autonomous Driving at Audi and specifically on level three autonomy developed for the all new Audi A8. The Future Mobility Forum will be the regional debut of the all new Audi A8 in the Middle East.
Audi has long been a driving force in the area of highly-automated driving, and has repeatedly documented its progress in this technology with spectacular demonstrations.
In the United States, a driverless Audi TTS etched the brand’s trademark four rings into the surface of a salt flat and also conquered Pikes Peak in the Rocky Mountains. In the fall of 2014, an RS 7 Sportback circled the Hockenheim racetrack at the limits of physical driving and since 2016, Audi has been demonstrating the next stages of piloted driving on public roads, such as the US highway from the West Coast to Las Vegas, on the A9 Autobahn in Germany and in urban traffic in Shanghai.
At the 2017 Future Mobility Forum, Audi will show the original RS 7 autonomous driving concept car that demonstrated a significant step in the development of this technology for Audi. In October 2014, this RS 7 with the project name “Bobby” already completed a driverless lap of the Hockenheimring at speeds of up to 240 km/h.
“Under challenging conditions on various international race courses, we acquired important experience in tuning our piloted functions at performance limits. Of course, this benefits development of our production assistance systems such as collision avoidance assist in the new Audi models,” said Dr Miklos Kiss Head of Predevelopment Driver Assistance Systems at Audi AG.
Audi went onto testing piloted driving in the challenging situation of real road traffic as early as 2015. “Jack” – an Audi A7 piloted driving concept car – autonomously drove the 900 km route from Silicon Valley to Las Vegas with journalists aboard. Shortly thereafter, this car also drove autonomously at speeds of up to 130 km/h on German autobahns. At CES Asia in May 2015, journalists experienced piloted driving in the complex traffic of mega-city Shanghai. And in October 2015, Audi demonstrated automatic emergency evasive manoeuvres of a test vehicle with moving obstacles in the urban environment.
To re-affirm their competence and leadership in the field of autonomous driving, the brand with the four rings will also show their latest model engineered to be able to demonstrate this technology. The Future Mobility Forum provides the stage for the all-new Audi A8 to be shown for the first time in the Middle East. The new Audi A8 presents the future of the luxury class. In its fourth generation, the brand’s flagship model again provides the benchmark for “Vorsprung durch Technik” – with a new design language, an innovative touchscreen operating concept and a systematically electrified drive. The Audi A8 is also the first production automobile in the world to have been developed for conditionally automated driving. From 2018, Audi will gradually be taking piloted driving functions such as parking pilot, garage pilot and traffic jam pilot into production.
The function for autonomous driving in traffic jams, which Audi is currently moving to production, is based on existing assistance systems such as Audi adaptive cruise control and traffic jam assist. At speeds between 0 and 65 km/h, the system will take over acceleration, braking and steering from the driver, if desired, providing some relief from stress in congested highway traffic. When the traffic jam dissolves or the road ends, the computer prompts the driver to take over the driving again.
The super brain of autonomous driving is the central driver assistance control unit (zFAS). It uses state-of-the-art, high-performance processors to evaluate the signals from all sensors in retail and compute maneuvers. A radar system scans the area in front of the car while a video camera detects lane markings, guardrails, pedestrians and other vehicles. A laser scanner delivers high-precision data about objects up to 80 meters away. Furthermore, as many as twelve ultrasonic sensors and four cameras monitor the entire area surrounding the car. The zFAS then uses all this sensor data to compute a model of the surroundings that describes the prevailing traffic situation in great detail. This enables very early detection by the system of vehicles moving into the lane in front of the vehicle, for example.
Audi thus already has the production-ready technology at its disposal for the first piloted driving system. The new functions this enables can significantly expand the role of the automobile as an emotional, comfortable and modern environment. Audi is taking a holistic approach to this subject, as the added “comfort time” or “25th Hour” in addition to the increased safety offer significant customer benefits.
The Audi A8 will also be the highlight car on the Audi Stand at the Dubai International Motor Show to be held at the World Trade Centre from 14-18 November.