On Tuesday I joked about cars soon driving themselves considering they already know how to parallel park. It seems this idea isn’t as far off as I really expected because Audi just announced at CES that our wheel hub and bearing assembly might learn to drive themselves after all. They call it the driver’s “Traffic Jam Assistant”, and it combines existing technology with new ideas to add even more convenience to driving. Have you ever been stuck in bumper to bumper traffic that requires you to pay constant attention to the road? Every day, twice a day? You know what I’m talking about, but Audi may have set the trend to end this daily rush-hour struggle. Who knows, this may eventually even help solve the problem of traffic. Two wide-range scanning radar sensors on the vehicle will monitor the surrounding area for other vehicles. A wide angle video camera will monitor the lane markings and other objects in your vicinity, such as pedestrians and guardrails. Eight more ultrasonic sensors will monitor what’s directly in front, behind, or to the sides of your car. Add this to the existing adaptive cruise control and ah ha!, you have a Traffic Jam Assistant. They have even made adjustments in case you need to make an emergency maneuver such as the guy in front of you slamming on his brakes for no reason.
Audi’s Traffic Jam Assistant will operate between 0 and 37 mph (that seems kind of fast to me..), but they say this will be completely safe for use on expressways or in cities. When I first heard of this I thought it could cause more accidents because it’s new technology, but it appears their goal is to reduce or even eliminate injuries behind the wheel. Seems pretty cool to me, what do you think?
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