Soon Your VW Will Drive To You
Volkswagen is working on programs that will help a VW car find your location, then drive to it. Remember the TV show Knight Rider? Michael would talk into his wrist watch and KITT would drive over to him. Seemed like scifi/fantasy in 1982, though soon the self-driving automobile could be a reality. World Car Fans explains:
VW has opened a new Electronics Research Laboratory in Belmont, California, tasked with creating the technologies that will go into the cars of the future. The lab has an annual budget of $20 million, and a staff of 100 designers and engineers.
So just what functions are they working on? How about this – you drive into a parking lot, even a multi-level one, you get out and head for the entrance to the building while your vacant car drives around on its own, searching for its own spot, and then parks itself. Then, when you leave, you just call your car and it comes back to greet you. All that’s missing is the wagging tail.
Also being researched is a driving awareness system that can detect traffic lights and speed limits, and adjusts the movement and capabilities of the car accordingly.
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