Self- Driving Cars - More than just a Promise

To all car enthusiasts- or everyone that has been waiting for a car you don't actually need to drive yourself- it looks like we finally might be quite close to turning dream into reality. CES2015 has announced that these kinds of cars might be on the road between 2017 and 2020. In fact, Audi has already let a car drive from Silicon Valley to Las Vegas, and the drivers didn't even need to touch the wheel.

The last 15 years this technology has gone from 'this will only happen in our dreams' to 'this will actually happen in about 5-7 years, which is a fairly big leap, and it's a true proof that the technology in the world is developing faster than expected.
In the beginning, the first cars will of course only be able to be used on limited access road, but eventually this will also improve. The cars will however have to be driven manually in urban areas. But the fact that the cars can be self- driven on long distance trip could also help decreasing the number of traffic accidents per year.

Let's go back to the example mentioned earlier, about the car that drove from Silicon Valley to Las Vegas all by itself. The A7, nicknamed Jack, looks quite normal, with few of the DARPA-era big sensors stuck to the top and sides. 

Audi said 'the A7 concept vehicle uses “various production-ready sensors as well as sensors integrated into production vehicles today that accurately detect the vehicles surroundings. … The sensors [are] close to production and meet financial targets for inclusion into future products.” Translation: The sensors work, they’re ready now or soon, and by the time a self-driving car comes to market, they won’t be outrageously priced but they may still be expensive, even on a $75,000 vehicle.The multiplicity of short- and long-range radars and lasers provides redundancy beyond what you’d need for almost-hands-off driving today. Currently, if you keep your hands lightly on the wheel, the car will drive itself for miles at a time so long as the road has no more than a gentle curve, no driver suddenly cuts into your lane and nobody in front panic-brakes.'

There will soon be possible to pre- order a self- driving cars. They will probably not be the cheapest cars on the market, but who knows where we'll be in another 15 years.