Conti to trial driverless vehicle this year

Hanover, Germany – Continental AG has advanced with the development of technologies for driverless vehicles with the development of a demo vehicle CUbE.

The German technology company said 20 July that Continental Urban mobility Experience (CUbE) will start its trials at Continental’s Frankfurt location, which contains a typical city infrastructure such as street signs, cross-traffic, pedestrian crossings and curbs.

“We’re developing cross-divisional solutions for driverless robo-taxis – and we will be starting with practical testing this year,” said Frank Jourdan, member of the executive board of Continental and chairman of the chassis & safety division management board.

According to Jourdan, Continental has access to “an almost complete product portfolio” of its own sensors, actuators, control units and communication and networking technology.”

Many aspects of the technology used in the vehicle are based on the driver assistance systems and sensors that are already installed in today’s serial production vehicles.

However, new technologies such as the “laser sensor” have also been used in the vehicle.

Citing a study by the consulting company Roland Berger, Conti said driverless vehicles will account for around a quarter of transportation services by the year 2030.