Delphi’s Autonomous Audi — Is the future within reach?

In this article by Car and Driver, Delphi, a car tech company that recently finished the first cross-country autonomous rode trip using a specialized Audi SQ5 is on display. The Audi, which was fitted with a variety of Delphi tech and a wild paint job, traveled over 3,400 miles and drove itself for 99% of the time, according to the company. That means that only approximately 35 miles out of an entire coast-to-coast road trip were controlled by a human. However, aside from the…unique…exterior color scheme, there were very few cues to tip anyone off that this is a self-driving car. This proof-of-concept Audi shows that driverless tech is, in my opinion, on the verge of mass deployment in the automotive industry. I think this tech will eventually disrupt existing insurance underwriting practices and government regulations the most. For insurance companies, a variety of parameters for how premiums are assessed (driver experience, age, etc.) will have to be reexamined in the wake of this new autonomous tech, potentially altering their bottom line. Do you think there are industries that will be disrupted in different ways?