Continental has been working on automated driving systems for some time now, and began open road trials of this technology early last year. It also entered into a research partnership with BMW to develop an ‘electronic co-pilot’ in January 2013. The German firm is now extending its collaborative activities; the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper shared on Aug. 21 that Continental intends to develop self-driving cars together with IBM and Google.
Spokespeople from the three companies either declined to comment or were not available, however it is understood that a deal is close to being signed and further details will be announced at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September. Conti’s decision to put its head together with the two US firms is, at any rate, in line with the direction it intends to take when developing such technologies.
“At Continental we believe that the internet does not just come into the car, but that the car becomes a part of the internet,” said CEO Dr. Elmar Degenhart in early August. “This opens up so many exciting opportunities for shaping the mobility of the future through innovation and creativity. We think the best way to unlock the opportunities of the connected vehicle is to look for collaborations, where we bring together areas of expertise and allow breakthrough technology to be imagined, developed and brought to market.”
Continental has previously voiced its expectation that vehicle automation will arrive in stages, starting with partially automated driving from 2016, high levels of automation from 2020 and – ultimately – fully automated systems from 2025. Google began conducting road tests of its driverless car at the start of 2012, taking advantage – as Continental has – of a law change in the US state of Nevada that enables autonomous cars to drive on public roads. Project leader, Google engineer Sebastian Thrun, claims the car can reduce road accidents by 90%, reduce wasted commute time and energy by 90%, and reduce the number of cars on the road by 90%. The third figure would admittedly involve car sharing, a setup that sounds better in theory than in practice. (Tyres & Accessories)
