Earlier this year, in January to be precise, there were rumors swirling around the automotive world suggesting that Audi, a luxury German automaker, would be offering an autonomous A8. Now, this rumor has been officially confirmed by Audi. As reported by the Motoring, citing Stefan Moser, who happens to be the person in charge of the Product and Technology Communications division at Audi, the German automaker is planning to manufacture the first fully autonomous vehicle in the world. According to Moser, Audi is convinced that such a car will always prove to be better than humans in terms of driving because, as Audi puts it, the vehicle will never be staring at pretty girls on the road nor will it be tampering with the phone or get its attention distracted by any distractions at all.
The autonomous car in question is the 2017 Audi A8. The German automaker officially announced the imminent arrival of its fully self-driving vehicle just a couple of days after it had put its RS7 piloted driving track concept car on demonstration. The demonstration took place at the Hockenheim circuit. Amazingly enough, this concept Audi RS7 managed to complete a whole lap of the circuit just within approximately two minutes.
Yet, back to the 2017 model of the A8, Audi believes that such an autonomous vehicle should be able to go just about any places, not only circuits. For this particular reason, according to Moser, Audi will be equipping its next generation A8 with a number of advanced cameras which, in doing their tasks, will be assisted by a number of lasers as well as additional sensors. This is meant to make the car ‘aware’ of the traffic situation around it.
Currently, Audi is planning to take the veil off its 2017 A8 model near the end of the year 2016. Subsequently, the car will be available for sale in dealerships starting from 2017. For those wondering about the design of the model, this fully autonomous vehicle may well borrow some styling cues from the Audi A9 concept that is set to make its debut during the LA Auto Show next month.
