Automotive parts manufacturer Delphi debuted its automated-vehicle platform at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show this week, taking CNET’s Wayne Cunningham on a test drive through the streets of Las Vegas.
The system, simply called Drive, was employed on a research-model Audi S Q5 but can be implemented on any make or model vehicle. Technology incorporated into the vehicle included six LIDAR modules, six radar modules, a high-resolution video camera and a high-definition GPS unit.
According to Cunningham, the trip destination was preprogrammed into the GPS, allowing the navigation to take over once a human driver got the car into the street. The vehicle was able to maintain lane position and speed, even when changing lanes, and knew to stop when a yellow light or a crosswalk was detected. If the crosswalk was empty, it appeared green on the central dashboard LCD screen, which displayed the virtual environment seen by the vehicle’s sensors; an occupied crosswalk turned red.
Delphi gave no timetable for the commercial release of the Drive system, but Cunningham expects the technology to be implemented one piece at a time.
