Page 5 - ATZ WORLDWIDE

EDITORIAL

Playing a

Pioneering Role

Dear Reader, dream. But several decades will pass
before digital cars represent a large pro-
Why do we need autonomous cars? Not portion of the vehicles on the roads. This
for a more comfortable ride, certainly. is unlikely to happen before 2040.” The
It is clear that the real issue is greater ethics committee of the German Federal
safety. The population of the world is Ministry of Transport has played a pio-
growing and there are more and more neering role in this area and drawn up
vehicles on the streets. This has led to an the first guidelines of their kind in the
increase in the number of collisions, par- world. “This means that we are the lead-
ticularly in large cities. The fact that the ing country in the field of smart mobil-
number of fatalities on the roads has ity,” says Alexander Dobrindt, Germany’s
risen only slightly in recent years is a transport minister.
good sign. In the past, the curve has
been much steeper than it is today. How- In the interview that starts on page 20,
ever, we need automated or autonomous Ralph Lauxmann from Continental takes
cars to ensure that the curve becomes a more optimistic view of the form the
flatter. The result will be more efficient transport transition could take, involving
traffic, a more consistent flow of vehi- the use of people movers. We need to dis-
cles, a more defensive driving style and cuss this subject in more detail. ATZ will
a significant improvement in road safety. be at the Frankfurt International Motor
Show on stand A08 in hall 4.1 on the
Another positive consequence of the drop press and trade days (12 to 15 September)
in the number of vehicles on the roads is and we look forward to talking to you.
a reduction in CO 2 and noise emissions.
Despite this, we will still need to focus With best regards,
closely on the subject of exhaust gas treat-
ment in future. A total of 27 professors
from the WKM (the Scientific Society for
Automotive and Engine Technology) have
called for an objective discussion on the
future of the combustion engine, together Dipl.-Ing. Michael Reichenbach
Deputy Editor in Chief

with an honest evaluation of its CO 2 emis-
sions, of the kind carried out by our edi-
tor-in-chief Dr. Alexander Heintzel in his
online comment entitled “Endlich Fakten
statt Propaganda” (Finally facts instead of
propaganda) on SpringerProfessional.de.
And when will autonomous cars be
arriving? This is where the experts disa-
gree, largely because of the differing
constraints involved. In his study, Eric
Heymann from Deutsche Bank Research
comes to the following conclusion:
“Autonomous driving is not a Utopian
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