Automakers descended on New York for the city's annual auto show this
week with vehicles ready to do more than just respond to drivers'
commands. However, the question of whether drivers want their cars to
take charge remained unanswered.
The path to fully autonomous
driving will still take years to reach consumers, but car manufacturers
demonstrated this week that they are now able to offer buyers several
levels of so-called active safety features - in which the car takes over
driving in certain instances. And they plan to introduce even more
advanced semiautonomous capabilities in the coming months.
Tesla
Motors made a splash when it recently announced plans to add automated
highway driving features, which it calls autopilot, to its Model S
sedans by the summer. But such capabilities are coming to a range of
vehicles sooner than many realize.
Volvo plans to introduce a
version of its XC90 this spring that will essentially provide similar
autopilot capabilities at lower speeds. Intended for traffic jams, its
"pilot assist" system allows the sport utility vehicle to take over both
the steering and throttle to follow the car in front of it at speeds up
to about 35 mph.
"We're taking out the part of people's commute
that they don't like," said Jim Nichols, a Volvo spokesman. "Even people
who normally like to drive have told us they want the autonomous part
for the more boring parts of their commute. So we're giving it to them."
Nichols
said although the car would take control, Volvo still expected drivers
to stay engaged and keep their hands on the wheel.
Audi plans to
offer a similar feature in January on its new Q7 sport utility vehicle,
which would allow the car to operate itself at up to 40 mph. Drivers
will need to touch the wheel every 10 seconds to maintain the autonomous
driving, the company said.
(Also See: Nissan Pledges to Launch Self-Driving Cars in Japan by 2016)
"There's not going to be some magical
moment when we say, here is the autonomous car," said Scott Keogh, head
of Audi's US operations. "We have the technology, and we are going to
keep bringing it out, step by step. You need to have customer acceptance
and see what consumers are willing to pay for."
Keogh said Audi's
current active safety package, which, for $2,550, includes adaptive
cruise control, emergency braking and blind-spot detection, was selling
well, with about 60 percent of A6 buyers paying for the option.
A
number of higher-end automakers at the New York show already offer cars
that are capable of correcting themselves in an instance when a driver
is drifting out of a lane, and that also have adaptive cruise control,
where sensors adjust speed based on the vehicle ahead. The industry is
now essentially taking those technologies and merging them, resulting in
a vehicle that can drive itself down a highway.
While luxury
buyers will see the most advanced capabilities first, the technologies
will trickle down to more affordable cars and trucks, auto executives
say. A rearview camera, for example, began as a high-end item but has
since become almost ubiquitous. The National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration has made them mandatory on all new vehicles by 2018.
The
safety agency's new administrator, Mark R. Rosekind, has said one of
his priorities is to ensure that active safety features that can prevent
accidents become available to the mass market, not just luxury buyers,
in the coming years.
"Affordability is a key part of this," said
Alan S. Batey, president of North American operations for General
Motors. "It may start at Cadillac, but when we scale it, that means the
costs are reduced to where we'll be able to bring it down through our
range of vehicles."
Cadillac, in fact, plans to offer what it
calls Super Cruise next year in its 2017 CT6 sedan, which was unveiled
on Tuesday. The feature will allow for hands-off-the-wheel,
feet-off-the-pedals highway driving.
(Also See: Honda to Test Self-Driving Prototypes at Former US Naval Base)
But some more basic active
safety features, particularly automatic braking, have already been
introduced on the more affordable GM models across the industry,
including the Chevrolet Malibu, Impala and Tahoe.
As he sat next
to a newly redesigned Malibu that debuted at the auto show, Batey, said
the combination of adaptive cruise control and automatic braking meant
that Chevrolet customers could now travel long distances without having
to worry about hitting the gas pedal or brake. They still have to steer,
but the car can do the rest.
"You literally never have to touch the pedals," he said. "I've traveled 150 miles in one of these and never touched the brake."
Mainstream
consumers are also getting more sophisticated warning systems that
alert them not only to trouble outside the car but to inside as well. On
Thursday, Nissan demonstrated drowsy driver technology on its new
Maxima that monitors when someone is getting sleepy or inattentive, then
uses beeps and lights to urge the driver to pull over.
Carlos
Ghosn, chief executive of Nissan and Renault, said that the progression
of technologies for cars to take control would happen gradually, but
that there was no doubt about the future for automobiles.
"This is going to be center stage in terms of the evolution of the car," he said.
Ghosn
said the goal was ultimately to empower drivers to decide when they
want to be in control, and when they want to sit back and let the
vehicle do the work. He predicted variations on autonomous driving would
exist for highways over the next three years, and for city driving by
the end of the decade.
Luxury car buyers will undoubtedly get the
first taste of autonomous technology, but it is not clear that the
wealthiest car aficionados will necessarily want it.
Rolls-Royce,
which had cars at the show with prices topping $350,000, could easily
have integrated the existing semiautonomous features of the most
advanced Mercedes S-Class, Audi or Volvo, and its buyers could easily
afford them. But Gerry Spahn, a Rolls-Royce spokesman, said the company
had no plans to offer such self-driving features.
The Rolls lineup
includes multiple sensors, infrared scanners and even a visual head-up
display to feed information to the driver, he said, but the company
intends to keep such sensor technology largely operating in the
background.
"Our customers don't want a bunch of things beeping or
buzzing at them," Spahn said. "They're not spending this kind of money
to be told how to drive, or to sit at the wheel but have the car do the
work. They want to keep the control themselves over that experience."
When Rolls buyers do not feel like doing the driving, they often have another option.
"Most customers already have an autonomous driver," he said. "It's called a chauffeur."
© 2015, The New York Times News Service
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