A brave new road

Audi's zAFS driving systems on its autonomous driving model.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Thomas Ruchatz, head of Audi driver's assistance systems and integrated safety, says Audi will add more driverless elements into the car until it becomes fully autonomous.

But driverless doesn't mean the driver needs no driving skills, at least not for now. Two US states - California and Nevada - have already issued regulations on self-driving cars. Drivers in those states must attend a training session before hitting the road in their autonomous vehicle.

Despite all of the developments in the self-driving car industry, there is still a huge need for improvements. For example, the cars are able to spot objects in the road such as stones, but are not very reliable in identifying potholes.

Chris Urmson, head of Google's self-driving car project, admits that the company's smartcars are not intelligent enough to tell a paper ball from a stone, or recognize a policeman signaling the vehicle to stop.

That's why there are still a large number of people opposed to self-driving cars. He Hangen from China's National University of Defense Technology says "self-driving cars are designed to help human beings, make them safer and more comfortable, but the intelligence of cars and humans is complimentary and not replaceable."

But he admits that these cars could be used for military purposes, or in situations where it would be dangerous for a human to drive, such as areas contaminated by radioactive material. According to He, the United States has announced that one-third of its military vehicles will be driverless by 2020.