Audi’s new A8 will become the first production car to take advantage of a new law in Germany that allows drivers to give up full or partial control to their cars if these are equipped with Level 3 or Level 4 autonomous tech.
Germany is the first country to pass such a law and also the largest new-car market in Europe. Under previous domestic legislation, the driver had to keep his eyes on the road at all times, even with assistance systems such as adaptive cruise control with lane-keeping assist allowed them to take their hands off the wheel for several seconds.
Level 3 autonomous cars feature hands-off capability but the driver is required to take back control at any time. The new German traffic law that allows the use of a car equipped with Level 3 autonomous technology will take effect on June 20, AutoNews reports.
Certain provisions are put in place to specify that drivers must be able to deactivate or manually override the self-driving system and that “sufficient time” is ensured before the driver takes back control. There is also a data recorder that logs handovers and other information, as well as technical malfunctions in the event of a collision.
The new Audi A8 can drive itself on roads with one-way traffic and up to 60km/h (37mph). The driver can give up the control entirely to the Traffic Jam Pilot system, as long as they remain capable of taking back control within a specific frame of time.
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