A UK-based company has completed a world first by driving coast-to-coast across America in an automated vehicle.
A team from Delphi Automotive, whose headquarters are in Gillingham, Kent, took the 3,400 mile road trip to research further advancements in active safety technology. The journey, which took nine days and crossed 15 states starting in San Francisco and finishing in New York, was completed in fully automated mode for 99% of the course.
The specially-adapted Audi used for the trip was equipped with a range of advanced technology, many of which are already on the market such as collision mitigation, integrated radar and camera systems, forward collision and lane departure warning. With the active safety technology sector of the automotive industry rapidly growing, Delphi say the information collected will help improve existing safety systems as well as advance the development of new ones. The coast-to-coast trip produced almost three terabytes of data which, to put into perspective, the company says is equivalent to about 30% of all the printed material in the Library of US Congress.
Jeff Owens, Delphi’s Chief Technology Officer, said: “Our vehicle performed remarkably well during this drive, exceeding our expectations.”
“The knowledge obtained from this trip will help optimize our existing active safety products and accelerate our future product development.”
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