Audi has become the second recipient – and the first auto manufacturer – of a license to allow it to test autonomous vehicles on Nevada’s public roads. It follows in the tire tracks of Google, which was given the first self-driving license and exclusive red license plates last year, giving it the go ahead to test its modified Toyota Prius on the state’s roads.
Audi is no slouch when it comes to autonomous driving technology. In 2010 the company’s Autonomous TTS research car completed the 12.42-mile (20 km) of twists and turns that make up the Pikes Peak Hill Climb course in an impressive 27 minutes. That’s around 10 minutes longer than an expert human driver would take in the same car.
Instead of completely taking over from a human driver, in the near term at least, Audi’s autonomous technology is aimed at taking over the boring task of stop-start driving, with drivers still being able to take control when needed, and to let the cars park in tight parking spaces without the driver at the wheel.
Source: Audi
The whole idea is to reduce the likelihood of accidents. The reality is that humans are awful drivers and it's a miracle there isn't more carnage on the roads. Just look around any road or street. When I walk through my city center, I can't go a single block without seeing several moving violations, often serious ones. Why are you so dead set on driving anyway? Most "drivers" don't really want to drive, no matter what they claim. They'd obviously rather be doing what they do at the same time they're behind the wheel, like talking on the cell phone, eating, texting, fiddling with the radio, etc.