Test driving the Audi ERL tech of tomorrow, today

(Credit: Antuan Goodwin/CNET)

This week, we paid a visit to Audi’s Electronics Research Laboratory (ERL) in north California. Rather, it paid a visit to us, bringing along its Audi Urban Intelligence Assist demo vehicle to San Francisco and taking me for a spin.

The Audi Urban Intelligence Assist (AUIA) vehicle is, essentially, an Audi A6 3.0T that has been outfitted as a test bed for a variety of technologies being developed by Audi ERL and its partners at the University of California Berkeley, the University of California San Diego, and the ?Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies at USC. During my ride, a variety of new technologies were demonstrated, including Driver Attention Guard, Intelligent Merge/Lane Assist, and predictive modeling for traffic, parking, and driver behavior.

Graphics in the instrument cluster indicate that the Attention Guard system is in control.

(Credit: Antuan Goodwin/CNET)

Driver Attention Guard Using an array of cameras hidden in plain sight around the AIUA vehicle’s cabin, the Driver Attention Guard system, developed by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, watches the driver’s head and face and discerns whether he or she is watching the road. On a closed course with an Audi ERL rese… [Read more]

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