Dec. 18, 2018—Audi has partnered with Luminar in an attempt to make self-driving cars a reality in the not-too-distant future, reported Digital Trends.
Audi's Autonomous Intelligent Driving (AID) program is working to develop autonomous technology for many companies owned by the Volkswagen Group, including the Volkswagen brand and Porsche.
Audi's test prototypes are equipped with Luminar hardware, including sensors, but they rely on AID's own software to interpret what they see, according to the report. The prototypes record and label every part of the environment they operate in, which is a key part of teaching a computer how to drive. It helps them tell a bus apart from a dumpster, for example, and react accordingly.
If there are no setbacks, AID will begin deploying the autonomous technology it's developing with Luminar in 2021.