New Dawn for Driver Nav
August 1, 2011 By: Don Jewell GPS WorldGPS World’s First Car Review: the Audi A8L
Today, some of the most exciting innovations in consumer electronics aren’t the ones in your living room or your office — they’re the ones inside your car. — Audi CEO Rupert Stadler
While most automobile magazines do a great job of reviewing the performance of automobiles and trucks, they do not adequately address the vehicles’ GPS or positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) capabilities, sensors, or electronics suites. Nor do they endeavor to fully grasp how these sensor suites, many enabled by GPS and other PNT devices, add to their safety, peace of mind, and overall situational awareness. My pick of the best automobile currently on the market for driver situational awareness is the 2011 Audi A8.
Lest you think the choice was easy, it was not. For two years I drove more than 26 different candidate automobiles and I found myself repeatedly comparing them to the A8L. The Audi 8L is designated by its maker to premiere and test all electronic features — hardware and software, including situational awareness devices — that may eventually go into production on other Audi models.
I noticed when I began testing automobiles that, on the high end, they were fairly uniform in performance. The majority of them went from 0 to 60 miles per hour (0 to 100 kilometers per hour) in less than five seconds. They all stopped or went from 60 to 0 in approximately 100 feet (30.48 meters), depending on the tires, weather, and road surface. They were all reasonably quiet and to some degree comfortable. The average fuel mileage varied from 15 to 27 miles per U.S. gallon, with the Audi A8L taking honors in this class. However, the models varied tremendously in their electronic sophistication, integration, and situational awareness: some vehicles kept the driver situationally aware, and some failed miserably at this critical task.
I look not only at the electronics and how they are integrated, but also how easily and completely they inform the driver in all sorts of traffic and weather conditions. Do the windshield wipers activate automatically when it rains or you enter a fog bank? Does the navigation system automatically reroute you or at least offer that option when weather, accidents, or delays are encountered? Does the PNT system alert you in time to take evasive action in a potential dangerous situation? Does it present the mapping interface and alerts so that you are aware of your options both aurally and visually? Do you have to manually intervene or merely follow clear and precise directions?
Every major automobile maker and dealer I spoke with said that the majority of serious buyers today look for performance and style as always — but those have become secondary to the options provided, mainly the electronic awareness, safety, and entertainment suites. Of course, makers and dealers also appreciate the fact that these options, while adding safety, convenience and awareness, also add — often significantly — to the bottom line, or the vehicle’s drive-away price. So, yes, situational awareness does come at a price and sometimes a steep one. However, if it gives you peace of mind, lower stress, and saves lives, it is hard to complain. One can certainly make the argument that all these devices should be available on all automobiles. As time goes by they will be, and at a lower price. For now, we pay a premium for them. But what price can you place on a human life? Rest assured, many of these features are potentially life-saving.
Pop-Up full-color 8-inch display screen in the center console.
Stealth GPS
I want to alert you to a phenomenon some GPS subject matter experts and I discovered while researching for the Department of Defense. It surprised us, but in retrospect we have always suspected the phenomena existed; we have chosen to call it Stealth GPS.
Stealth GPS exists in many military platforms today, and the practice now extends to the automotive industry as well. Basically, 90 percent of the more than 1 billion GPS users in the world use GPS for time or timing purposes and not for just position or navigational purposes. Obviously, in automobiles with very high-tech systems onboard, timing and synchronization are critical. Since GPS chips today are relatively inexpensive, they occasionally show up in unexpected places. No less than five major auto makers told us that every model they produce has a single and more likely multiple GPS chip(s) embedded somewhere in the electronic suites. These automobiles may or may not have a standalone GPS display, and it may not be obvious to the owner or even the mechanics that work on the vehicle, but GPS information, including timing data, is essential to proper vehicle operation.
For example, on the Audi A8L the Quattro sensors measure tire adhesion or slip up to 100 times per second and report that information through the traction-control system’s electronics. This requires precision timing and a tightly integrated timing or synchronization system.
Consider that GPS time is distributed freely around the world, and relatively cheap quartz crystal clocks can act to hold over precise GPS timing for a considerable period when the vehicle’s GPS antenna, also usually a stealth device, cannot see the sky. GPS chips in addition to position and navigation information may provide time of day to include day, month, year, hour, seconds, and divisions of seconds down to 1 x 10-14, along with altitude, attitude, heading, and velocity information, all independent of any other sensors on the car. As you will see, when GPS data are tightly integrated with other sensor data and display systems, the resulting displays and capabilities can be almost staggering in their versatility and ability to make the driver situationally aware.
1 2 3 4
RSS
Become a Fan
Join our Network
Follow Us
Please send any technical comments or questions to our webmaster.