Researchers at Volkswagen have joined the growing list of teams working on autonomous vehicles. Now, as part of a demonstration project, they’ve converted a Passat to drive with minimal driver supervision.

Volkswagen’s system is called Temporary Auto Pilot (TAP) and uses a series of cameras and sensors to control the vehicle at speeds upwards of 80 mph. The system combines and refines existing semi-autonomous features such as lane-keep assist and adaptive cruise control into a single program that accelerates, brakes and steers. It differs from previous VW autonomous vehicles such as Stanley, famous for its role in the DARPA Challenge, in that it still requires driver supervision and made of mostly production-ready components.

“What we have achieved today is an important milestone on the path towards accident-free driving,” said Volkswagen Group research president Dr. Jürgen Leohold. When engaged, TAP signals the vehicle to maintain a speed consistent with traffic and speed limits, while steering within lane markers and braking as needed.

Though it’s an impressive achievement, we’ve never heard an automaker claim that an autonomous vehicle is ready to replace a human driver, and VW is no exception.

“Nonetheless, the driver always retains driving responsibility and is always in control,” Leohold said. “The driver can override or deactivate the system at any time and must continually monitor it.” In other words, don’t take a nap or make a phone call while the car is in motion, because any accident is your responsibility.

We’ve driven plenty of cars with active cruise control, and have been shocked to see how our minds immediately begin to engage in other tasks as soon as a computer takes over the safety-critical functions of driving. It’s human nature to stop paying attention to events that aren’t of immediate concern, so we’re curious how VW plans to keep drivers actively controlling their cars.

The whole project is part of the EU’s HAVEit (Highly Automated Vehicles for Intelligent Transport) project, which first began in February 2008.

Photo: Volkswagen