BMW and Continental Will Test Piloted Cars in Germany Through 2014

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and Continental will be testing cars with piloted driving on European roads in 2013 and 2014. They believe that the technology will be ready for sale by 2020. Audi’sAudiGermany, 1909 > present83 models
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CEO made a similar prediction earlier in the month.

BMW and Continental will jointly develop the co-piloted driving technology on European roads over the next two years. They call the project “Vision Zero," and its goal is to develop highly automated driving technology for European roads. The cars will specifically test it in intersections, through tolls, during road construction and through national borders. 

“Partially automated driving functions of the near future, like the Traffic Jam Assistant, will mark an important step on the road to highly automated driving,” said Dr. Christoph Grote, head of research at BMW.

After testing the technology on public roads in 2013 and 2014, it will be tested further by trained public participants. By this time, the technology will be near-production ready, according to BMW and Continental.

BMW has been working on piloted driving since 2011 when it developed its own test vehicles and drove them on the A9 highway in Germany. These test cars have covered about 10,000km, according to BMW.

In 2009, BMW developed the TrackTrainer where it could program a racetrack into a car, and it would be able to drive the track.