A brave new road

Google's prototype of its driverless car.[Photo provided to China Daily]

The Mercedes-Benz F 015 Luxury in Motion research car exhibited at the show has several sensors and scanners on its body. The interior features high-resolution touch screens and an adjustable seating system with four rotating chairs. Passengers can communicate with the vehicle via hand gestures or through the touch screens.

On the same day Mercedes introduced its new model, an Audi A7 piloted driving concept car drove 900 kilometers from Silicon Valley to the exhibition center. The A7's piloted driving system has limitations, and currently it's programed to start the self-driving only on highways.

The vehicle is equipped with a digital camera, laser scanner and radar. The brain of the car is put in the trunk, where eight computers (about half the size of a shoebox) function together.

Nick Jaynes from the website Digital Trends test rode the Audi A7 in Las Vegas. He wrote that when the driver pretends to fall asleep, an alarm goes on, and if the driver doesn't react in 10 seconds by hitting the gas or brake or touching the wheel, the car will slow down and eventually stop.

The 900-km trip by the A7 pales in comparison to the feats achieved by Google's driverless cars, which have now logged more than 1.1 million autonomous kilometers.

Reuters reported that in the self-driving car industry, "standards are not yet defined, winners and losers are not sorted out and major players disagree sharply about the best way to bring the promise of safer, smarter cars to market".

Driverless cars are not yet for sale, but Google has already introduced a model and Nissan has announced that it intends to launch its own version by 2020. Audi says it will put the A7 into mass production within three to five years.