#Audi Plans Three Electric Vehicles by Decade’s End

As parent company Volkswagen Group shifts from diesel to electric vehicles, Audi plans to have at least three EVs by 2020 as part of a new major plan.

The shift in focus was presented to managers last week, and CEO Rupert Stadler told a German newspaper that it expects electric vehicles to account for 25 to 30 percent of its sales by 2025.

Standler also told the daily Heilbronner Stimme in an interview the electric car line up would also include an entry-level A- (minicar) segment car.

The first electric model will be an electric crossover SUV based on the e-tron quattro concept that was unveiled at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show.

Arriving in 2018, the SUV is rumored to be called Audi Q6 e-tron and will be built at the company’s Belgium facility.

In addition to EVs, Audi will invest more resources in digital services and autonomous driving technologies Automotive News reported.

The German automaker will set up a new subsidiary that will work on self-driving vehicles called the SDS Company.

“This is about a robot car that may not even need a steering wheel or pedals, so it’s ideal for urban traffic,” Stadler said.

But like Volvo, Audi is in need of collaboration and partners to help with the technology.

In order to focus on EVs and autonomous technologies, the company will reduce complexity in other areas of its business, Stadler said.

“We have discussed what would happen if we dropped the two-door version of the A3,” he commented. “I think we would barely lose any customers. We’d rather invest the money that is freed up in new models and other derivatives,” Stadler said.

In addition to electric and autonomous vehicles, Stadler said, fuel cell cars are a “must,” though he couldn’t say how large a market it might be. “That is less a question of technology, we are already quite good at that. It’s rather going to be a question of infrastructure,” he said.

In a separate interview, Audi’s technical development chief Stefan Knirsch told another German newspaper he expected production of a fuel cell car would not start before 2020 because of the lack of fueling stations.

Hybridcars.com

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Lessons From the #Tesla Crash

 A recent fatal crash in Florida involving aTesla Model S is an example of how a new technology designed to make cars safer could, in some cases, make them more dangerous. These risks, however, could be minimized with better testing and regulations.

 Tesla says that the wrecked car’s assisted-driving system, called Autopilot, did not detect a white tractor-trailer when — against a bright sky — it turned in front of the car. The driver, Joshua Brown, who died in the crash, also did not hit the brakes, possibly because he was distracted.

 More than 35,200 people were killed in car crashes in this country last year, up 7.7 percent from 2014. People caused most of those accidents. Driverless cars could help reduce that toll substantially, but those vehicles are still years away. In the meantime, many car companies are trying to improve safety in other ways. For example, some systems, primarily found in luxury cars like Teslas, can slow or stop cars when drivers are not paying attention.

 Tesla’s electric cars are not self-driving, but when the Autopilot system is engaged it can keep the car in a lane, adjust its speed to keep up with traffic and brake to avoid collisions. Tesla says audio and visual alerts warn drivers to keep their hands on the steering wheel and watch the road. If a driver is unresponsive to the alerts, the car is programmed to slow itself to a stop.

 Such warnings aren’t sufficient, though; some Tesla drivers, as shown invideos on YouTube, have even gotten into the back seat while the car was moving. Such reckless behavior threatens not just the drivers but everyone else on the road, too.

 It’s not surprising that technology that helps drivers can lull them into thinking they need not pay attention at all. Chris Urmson, who heads Google’s driverless car project, said in a TED talk last year that when his company tested a driver assistance system some drivers became so dangerously distracted that Google pulled back on that concept. It has decided to focus its efforts on fully self-driving cars instead.

 The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration should study how automakers can minimize driver distraction. This will become more urgent as advanced systems become available in cars made for the mass market.

 A recent fatal crash in Florida involving aTesla Model S is an example of how a new technology designed to make cars safer could, in some cases, make them more dangerous. These risks, however, could be minimized with better testing and regulations.

 Tesla says that the wrecked car’s assisted-driving system, called Autopilot, did not detect a white tractor-trailer when — against a bright sky — it turned in front of the car. The driver, Joshua Brown, who died in the crash, also did not hit the brakes, possibly because he was distracted.

 More than 35,200 people were killed in car crashes in this country last year, up 7.7 percent from 2014. People caused most of those accidents. Driverless cars could help reduce that toll substantially, but those vehicles are still years away. In the meantime, many car companies are trying to improve safety in other ways. For example, some systems, primarily found in luxury cars like Teslas, can slow or stop cars when drivers are not paying attention.

 Tesla’s electric cars are not self-driving, but when the Autopilot system is engaged it can keep the car in a lane, adjust its speed to keep up with traffic and brake to avoid collisions. Tesla says audio and visual alerts warn drivers to keep their hands on the steering wheel and watch the road. If a driver is unresponsive to the alerts, the car is programmed to slow itself to a stop.

 Such warnings aren’t sufficient, though; some Tesla drivers, as shown invideos on YouTube, have even gotten into the back seat while the car was moving. Such reckless behavior threatens not just the drivers but everyone else on the road, too.

 It’s not surprising that technology that helps drivers can lull them into thinking they need not pay attention at all. Chris Urmson, who heads Google’s driverless car project, said in a TED talk last year that when his company tested a driver assistance system some drivers became so dangerously distracted that Google pulled back on that concept. It has decided to focus its efforts on fully self-driving cars instead.

 The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration should study how automakers can minimize driver distraction. This will become more urgent as advanced systems become available in cars made for the mass market.

Nytimes.com

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