Audi seems to know a thing or two about putting together an autonomous vehicle. To further encourage the development of this software, while presumably scouting out potential talent, Audi invited students to participate in the Autonomous Driving Cup, where teams will develop the software for model cars.
Intended primarily for students focusing on electrical and mechanical engineering as well as computer sciences, the cup will see ten teams competing to build the best performing self driving car. The model in question is a 1:8-scale Audi Q5 which will feature all-wheel drive and can travel up to 25 mph. Audi will provide this as well as a basic software package from which the teams are expected to develop the best working programs.
It may seem like programming a toy car to zip around and perform tasks is a little different from doing so for an SUV meant to carry people, but competition organizer Björn Giesler states that the obstacles that the students will need to overcome are very similar to the ones faced when programming for the real deal. The measurement sensors in the models have to work just as precisely as those in their big brothers,” Giesler says. “We are excited to see the innovative solutions the students come up with.”
The Mini Q5’s will be tested on a competition course where they will be scored on things like how it deals with oncoming and intersecting traffic, parking situations, and different precision tests. The goal is to finish the course with the best time, with points deducted for crashes and imprecision.
Successful teams will walk away with cash prizes, too: 10,000 Euros going to the winner while 5,000 and 1,000 Euros will go to 2nd and 3rd place, respectively.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.