--- description: Audi's car goes it alone to CES title: This is the Audi Driving Itself 550 Miles to CES image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt09e68ef6d0a1ad8a/6987785435ba6f597ac06526/driverless-audi-a7.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Business](/section/business/) ## Business Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [ces 2015](/tag/ces-2015/) ## ces 2015 Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This Is the Audi That Is Driving Itself 550-Plus Miles to CES by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 6, 2015 3:50 PM CUT  ?Start zur 550 Meilen langen pilotierten Testfahrt vom Silicon Valley nach Las Vegas: Ricky Hudi, Leiter Entwicklung Elektrik/Elektronik, (links) und Ewald Goessmann, Excecutive Director Electronic Research Lab California (ERL), (Dritter von rechts) schicken den Audi A7 Sportback piloted driving concept auf die Strecke.? ?Start zur 550 Meilen langen pilotierten Testfahrt vom Silicon Valley nach Las Vegas: Ricky Hudi, Leiter Entwicklung Elektrik/Elektronik, (links) und Ewald Goessmann, Excecutive Director Electronic Research Lab California (ERL), (Dritter von rechts) schicken den Audi A7 Sportback piloted driving concept auf die Strecke.?Audi's driverless A7 at the start of the 550 mile piloted drive from Silicon Valley to Las Vegas. by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 6, 2015 3:50 PM CUT Audi’s A7 Sportback may not be what Jack Kerouac had in mind when he envisioned the freedom of the open road. But the self-driving car is still probably the coolest way to get to CES, a stunt the German carmaker is pulling this year by letting the bold test-drive the car more than 550 miles of highway from Silicon Valley to Las Vegas. The A7 Sportback uses five radars, a laser scanner, and a number of 3D cameras as part of Audi’s “piloted driving” tech, which can drive on highways (but not city streets) without human interference. It can reach speeds of up to 70 miles per hour on highways, Audi says, and [can change lanes](http://www.audiusa.com/newsroom/news/press-releases/2015/01/550-mile-piloted-drive-from-silicon-valley-to-las-vegas "undefined") and adapt to the speeds of surrounding vehicles. The car warns drivers to take control when a city is approaching with an “acoustic warning indicator.” ### The Wildest Concept Cars of 2014  Anybody can take Chevy's Chaparral 2x Vision concept car for a spin — anybody with Gran Turismo 6 for the Sony PlayStation, anyway, where the car is a playable download. Gene Blevins—LA DailyNews/Corbis  One day, we'll all finally get to ride those light-cycles from Tron. For now, there's Toyota's FV2 concept car. Joe Klamar—AFP/Getty Images  Doors? Where you're going in the Smart Brabus FourJoy concept car, you don't need doors. Bloomberg/Getty Images  The pickup truck hasn't really changed much in decades — until Volkswagen took it on with this Tristar concept car, which takes a pickup and makes it super offroad-friendly. Fabian Bimmer—Reuters/Corbis  Nissan's 3-seat electric BladeGlider concept car might actually make it to production, pretty rare for a concept car this wild. If a Jedi Knight drove a car, it would be the BladeGlider. Gene Blevins—LA DailyNews/Corbis  Toyota hasn't said much about its high-riding C-HR Concept crossover, but we know that it's purple. Very purple. Benoit Tessier—Reuters/Corbis  Maserati says its Alfieri concept car represents "the future of Maserati design." Too bad most of us can't conceptualize being able to afford a Maserati any time soon. Pierre Albouy—AFP/Getty Images  Mercedes-Benz's G-Code concept SUV comes covered in what the company calls "multi-voltaic silver" paint that's supposed to act like one big solar cell. It's all very green — err, "multi-voltaic silver." Kim Kyung-Hoon—Reuters/Corbis  It somehow doesn't feel like this car, designed by Russian artist Gosha Ostretsov, will fly off the shelves. But that's okay, because it's more art exhibit than commercial vehicle. Smityuk Yuri—ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis When the technology will be commercially available is not yet known. But Audi says its piloted driving technology is “production ready.” This particular model could be an important move in testing the waters of the self-driving market, though Audi has been openly working on the technology for several years. At CES in 2013, the company debuted limited self-driving technology that allowed cars to park themselves. Audi is presenting the A7 Sportback at CES beginning Tuesday. _Read next:_ [_The Science of Why Your Kids Can’t Resist ‘Frozen’_](http://www.time.com/3656230/why-kids-cant-resist-frozen/?xid=time%5Freadnext "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3655606/audi-self-driving-a7-sportback/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3655606/audi-self-driving-a7-sportback/"},"headline":"This Is the Audi That Is Driving Itself 550-Plus Miles to CES","datePublished":"2015-01-06T15:50:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:45:23.279Z","description":"Audi's car goes it alone to CES—sort of","url":"https://time.com/3655606/audi-self-driving-a7-sportback/","keywords":["ces 2015","Tech","Auto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt09e68ef6d0a1ad8a/6987785435ba6f597ac06526/driverless-audi-a7.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt09e68ef6d0a1ad8a/6987785435ba6f597ac06526/driverless-audi-a7.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"550 Meilen pilotiert vom Silicon Valley nach Las Vegas: Langstrecken-Test im Audi A7 Sportback piloted driving concept","caption":"550 Meilen pilotiert vom Silicon Valley nach Las Vegas: Langstrecken-Test im Audi A7 Sportback piloted driving concept","creditText":"Audi's driverless A7 at the start of the 550 mile piloted drive from Silicon Valley to Las Vegas.","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/ces-2015/","name":"ces 2015"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3655606/audi-self-driving-a7-sportback/","name":"This Is the Audi That Is Driving Itself 550-Plus Miles to CES"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Driverless Cars: The Future of Driving","description":"Predictions about a future in which cars that will drive themselves have been staples of everything from science fiction to pop culture to corporate PR for decades. 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