Elon Musk?s prediction earlier this month that a Tesla will drive itself across the U.S. within ?24 to 36 months? has garnered a lot of attention?but also triggered skepticism among some rivals. Carlos Ghosn, for one, is sticking to his earlier prediction that the first self-driving Nissan will come in 2020. And Audi USA president Scott Keogh was even more pessimistic on timing (or optimistic, if you?re not a great fan of the idea of a world filled with robot cars).
This Audi TTS completed the Pikes Peak hill climb in 2010. Autonomously.
?It?s a definition problem,? Keogh said, when asked to comment on Musk?s prediction. ?If the definition is, I leave my home, I press a button and that car will take me to wherever I want to go, no hands on the wheel, completely autonomously, then it?s not going to happen for a long time. From my point of view, ten-plus years.? Audi predicts that there are going to be different levels of autonomy in different areas alongside incremental improvements. ?There is going to be an environment with a defined area, an urban area, that will completely gridded, completely mapped,? Keogh explained. ?All the data and intelligence will be there. Autonomous vehicles will be operating there sooner. The second one is what you see with Audi piloted driving, adaptive cruise control that gets better and better with every generation. You see that in the marketplace now. Then we?re launching traffic-jam assist with the Q7 and A4 which works up to 37 mph and is ...