The VW Self-Driving Car

• Monday July 3, 2006 in: Import Car Lifestyle Tag(s):

  

  Technorati Tags: cool cars, cars, Volkswagen

  Remember that TV series from the 1980s called Knight Rider? You know, the show that featured KITT, a super car that could talk, cruise at 300 mph, leap dozens of feet through the air, repel bullets, was loaded with all sorts of armaments, and was able to drive itself?

  Well, Volkswagen has recently unveiled a car that brings KITT to mind. No, it's not bulletproof, couldn't do crazy speeds, and definitely doesn't talk. Still, it's no small feat for the German car manufacturer to come up with a self-driving fully automatic car, as featured in a Daily Mail news article.

  The remarkable car is the VW Golf GTi '53 plus 1' codenamed after the number '53' which Herbie carried when racing in his big screen adventures.

  The GTi has electronic 'eyes' that use radar and laser sensors in the grille to 'read' the road and send the details back to its computer brain. A sat-nav system tracks its exact position with pin-point precision to within an inch.

  The car can then work out the twists and turns it has to negotiate - before setting off at break-neck speed through a laid out course on a test track.

  The new Volkswagen Golf may not cruise at 300 mph, but its top speed of 150-which it can hit by itself-is pretty impressive.

  But before you rush off to your nearest car dealer and buy one, Volkswagen's latest innovation is still at the prototype stage. It still has a lot of issues to contend with, safety foremost of them. But should the car be proven safe and eventually mass-produced, falling asleep behind the wheel probably wouldn't be such a dangerous thing anymore.