It is a pity to abandon it, and it is not used properly.
A few days ago, according to the car news, Audi has officially cancelled the L3 level autonomous driving research and development project at the end of 2019, and hundreds of employees of its team have turned to L2 and L4 level autonomous driving technology development.
Confirmed from an informed person of the parts company of the Audi partner. The main reason is to cut off the TJP (Traffic Jam Pilot) project for the development of L3 level autonomous driving, which is divided into L2 and L4 teams. .9 Function-It is at the top of the L2 level, but not as high as the L3 level, that is, to achieve assisted automatic driving under specific conditions, including but not limited to driving operations such as automatic parking, active braking, and lane keeping in specific scenarios.
It is interesting to note that the Audi China PR director said in response, “Email the headquarters tomorrow.”
Audi comprehensively developed self-driving technology in 2009, and obtained the first autonomous driving test license under the new Florida traffic regulations five years later. In 2017, the fourth-generation Audi A8 topped the halo of “the world’s first Level 3 autonomous driving production car”, and star suppliers such as Bosch, Valeo, Mobileye, and NVIDIA endorsed it.
Officially, when the speed is lower than 60 kilometers per hour, the car can complete a series of autonomous operations such as starting, accelerating, steering, and braking, without manual intervention.
It is embarrassing that, in the past 3 years, the Audi A8, which claims to have reached the L3 level of hardware parameters, has been unable to implement the L3 level of functionality to consumers. In this regard, Audi explained that this was due to a long absence of legal supervision.
The data shows that, whether it is an autonomous driving route or a component device, the A8 is almost the best in the mass-produced models at the same price in the market. Even the Tesla Model S is equipped with a complete range The millimeter-wave radar, front-facing camera, lidar for automatic driving in complex road conditions, ultrasonic radar for automatic parking artifacts, and 4-way high-definition surround-view camera are not inferior to the hardware parameters.
However, the L3 level of autonomous driving technology has laid a dangerous foreshadowing for it: no matter how good the vision is, when artificial intelligence cannot recognize it, driving requires manual response.
According to sources in the industry, Dongxi vehicles quoted that there are always insurmountable paradox projects or core causes of miscarriage for L3-level autonomous driving. As we all know, compared with the semi-automated L2 level, which requires the driver to always maintain a high degree of attention, and the more advanced L4 level automatic driving function, the vehicle can complete all autonomous responses under specific road conditions without requiring any user to respond to the intervention request. The L3 level of autonomous driving is extremely poor. Although the vehicle can perform most of its own operations in most cases without continuous monitoring of the road, the driver still needs toTake over at any time.
According to the definition, L3 level autonomous vehicles can determine when the system can no longer support automation, and then send reminders to the rear driver, let the driver resume taking over the driving task, and provide the appropriate transition time to Safely switch to manual control. The problem is, how to control “appropriate conversion time” when unexpected accidents are caught off guard?
It is reported that as of the end of 2018, the first Audi to eat crabs was mass-produced for L3 autonomous driving technology. It has already accumulated over 1 billion Euros and has over 1,000 R & D personnel. Such a large-scale investment has never been able to realize technology.
According to Audi’s previously announced vision for autonomous driving, its ultimate goal is to achieve L4 level autonomous driving by 2025. In China, SAIC, BMW, Didi, etc. have already obtained intelligent networked vehicle demonstration application test licenses. Audi this time cancelled the development of autonomous driving at the L3 level and switched to betting on L2 and L4. When various people increase the number of autonomous driving tracks, or pass another signal: autonomous driving technology is essentially an extension of the product function of the car, and By no means an isolated product.