Hands off? Automated driving on the freeway is one thing. In city traffic, situations lurk that are much more difficult to calculate.
Image: Lucas Bäuml
Highly automated cars are now allowed to drive in German cities, where they will inevitably encounter pedestrians and cyclists. But neither the technology nor the approval process are that far along.
GTucked away in the back of an S-Class, protected from the heat and dust, the city is easy to bear even in summer. The driver relaxes and takes his hands off the steering wheel and switches on the autopilot. The limousine is approaching a zebra crossing, and a young woman is looking at her smartphone on the side of the road. Suddenly she runs up and crosses the street. The heavy sedan has already slowed down and stops after gentle braking.
This scenario was recently part of a demonstration at the Aldenhoven proving ground north of Aachen. The joint research project “At-City”, in which three universities and half a dozen automotive suppliers were involved in addition to Audi, MAN and Mercedes-Benz, has shown its results. For five years, the project partners have been working on taking automated driving to the next level. Because while the first vehicles are coming onto the market that make it possible to take your hands off the steering wheel on some motorways at speeds of up to 60 km/h, highly automated driving in the city is still in its infancy.