Audi was planning to add some Level 3 autonomous driving tech to the A8 sedan when it got refreshed next year, but a new report from Automotive News Europe says that time and government constraints have taken that off of the table.
“We will not see the Traffic Jam Pilot on the road with its originally planned Level 3 functionality in the current model generation of the Audi A8 because our luxury sedan has already gone through a substantial part of its model life cycle,” said Audi technical development boss Hans-Joachim Rothenpieler. “Currently, there is no legal framework for Level 3 automated driving and it is not possible to homologate such functions anywhere in the world in a series production car.”
So while the automaker felt it could have the technology ready, regulations weren’t ready for the technology of the eyes-off Traffic Jam Pilot feature.
It would have made Audi the first to launch a production car with eyes-off conditional autonomy, but could now see them fall behind Mercedes and BMW. Though those automakers will likely experience the same regulatory barrier, so it may end up being a matter of which company is fortunate enough to time their new model or refresh with the launch of new regulations. Though governments around the world have their hands full at the moment, meaning that it could be a long wait for rules on semi-self-driving cars.
“The euphoria in the auto industry around Level 3 has subsided substantially,” concluded Rothenpieler.
Audi will continue to improve its Level 2 advanced driver assistance features, but don’t get your books and cell-phone games ready for your commute just yet.
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