want.

>> president of the audi of america comment scott keogh recently wrote that recklessly introducing the future with the most critical component of the equation, uh the consumer negative inning false expectations with the driverless cars. >> taken not has said it better myself. as it is quite straightforward will give some examples if you read the headlines juicy carnegie-mellon uc the up proclamations' executives are making in the automotive business they are used to hype and when it comes to do everyday matters marketing hype is okay but such as

this said think it is disingenuous because the words are so flippantly thrown around such as autonomous or autopilot or so strivings of the consumer thinks i go home and i hit a button i can go anywhere in america at any time under any condition and we know that is not the case berger if you go to some of the pilot test out of pittsburgh the headline says the autonomous cars are roaming pittsburgh beat paragraph says there is 45 interruptions this new technology is emerging but if we over hype and over stimulate the customer will have the extrication with that is not meant there will be a lack of trust and then there is a problem that is true with the consumer and also the government of course, their point of view

there making proclamations that not true that don't manifest themselves in the marketplace you'll have an issue about what we want is the technology to match the customer expectation aligned with government regulation. i am sensitive to this because i think it is breathtakingly cool technology. in 1993 never could have imagined in my wildest dreams inside a car going around racetrack and driving from stanford to a loss vegas almost 600 miles fully autonomous, it is here but that expectation of what is real the possibilities and how long it will take. >> host: where it is audi on the trail?

>> number of things. first and foremost, we are a crazy pioneering company we have them that way we did not just make up yesterday we have been doing this for over a decade restarted in 2005 with stanford with the autonomous challenge that we won then in 2009 racing in the desert then pikes peak january 2015 we drove from stanford to a las vegas we have been around a racetrack said high-speed, is a long effort. if you want to look at where i see the world there is to cheops to define the complicated thing simplistically, that it is in the more advanced technologies into the marketplace so they look at accommodation zero is the

model t with nothing number one is this technology we have had this over 15 years. turn assessed looking and 60 years 70 percent to have these level one technologies . we just launched nine months ago level to and there are other manufacturers that have level to now you have all of the assist features some are beginning to get into the autonomous features recall that traffic can assist you still have to be piloting the car and be behind the wheel but in the right circumstances to take your hands off the wheel for about 15 seconds. this is just the start of the technology but

approximately 25% of the q 7% are prepaying $2,400 have this technology on them. we bring technology we promote them to the consumer but now the next up is what is coming potentially next year and this is level three the simple definition speeding up to approximately 35 miles per hour and in the right conditions can have your hand off the wall -- the real dramatically longer than 15 seconds but this is ready will see more action. and that is what i call the automotive world it will get better with each generation but now the kennedy let's go to the moon phase that this

level five for of fully autonomous in almost all circumstances. , we are working on that and i think those applications will confine themselves to the urban environment at least in the beginning to continue to bring the consumer along and work on the moonshot. in that is just getting around in the vehicle so that is where we are in we believe in this technology so aggressively. >> host: some car companies say 2020 for the level five is optimistic? >> i think 2025 is not too bad 2020 could be optimistic but when you start to peel the onion of little more what they are talking about usually has some wiggle room but sometime in 2018 we will

be at level three we think we could then allow higher speeds in the 20/20 window maybe 2025 but my full definition is in a confined area like the city of san francisco or the island of manhattan ioc anywhere in america any time i can go there i think there's far too much mapping and complexity but the important thing to look at everybody is always pressing of the 0.3% scenario but what people don't like about driving is the congested areas in the major cities with a lot of traffic and that is what we are attacking right off the bat some people like to drive on

the open roads and cruise and that is why we think this is the way to go to address the major issues of traffic and then what becomes of traffic? humans get bored in distracted that is when they grab the phone or grab something and something bad happens. the other thing like to think about is you could drive the car one hour 15 minutes each way to commute and for one hour 14 minutes in 40 seconds you can be dialed in hands behind the wheel one second or one half second you could look away and you could pay with your life. so why would not be taking advantage of the technology that is there? we could mitigate that. >> host: mentioned a level to package is $2,400 is the

cost to you recoup your investment at that cost or is there a subsidy? electric be told what happens in the automotive business there is a lot of high investment upfront then you get that back as you could scale that. so right now on this car probably not. but as an amorphous into the other models with 20 dousing units than 100,000 units yes. so we do believe investing in the front end gives the competitive advantage. but back to your original question it is only at scale if the consumer wants the technology we believe that they do so far and we feel good about it.

but what is crucial with a nice advantage to be in the luxury segment is redo command price premiums and higher pricing people who purchase our cars are highly educated, affluent and they want the latest in greatest technology so it is a little easier for us with the mindset of our demographic to be a creative class brand high-tech meets high designs of the works for us the volume oriented brand with a strictly value oriented customer will be a little tougher without a doubt. >> host: in the recent guidelines of autonomous vehicles, a data recording is that something that audi supports? >> click at the latest

guidelines 116 pages and a lot of governmental stuff it isn't criticism but it is a lot to digest so i will go up to that higher level so then you pick out the things you agree with sulfite take the high levels of first and foremost the government could have some real believe in this technology and let's stop. they did not. they said be believe right off the bat so we like that. second the want to get behind innovation. we love that. the third part that is crucial that would be really helpful to get federal regulations aligned with the independent state regulations on this issue because our desire is to launch one car with one technology set throughout the 50 united states right

now you have examples like new york one handle is has to be on the wheel or florida or nevada or california to do a test we had to do with distinct and different license if you are a consumer you'll not have a different license so these have to be cleared but the final piece casting do with the campaign and america in general with the infrastructure because in my strong opinion the better the infrastructure the greater the leverage advantage american take to position ourselves more autonomous and pilot comes to life to bring high-tech jobs and all the things that the radically want. we need the well paved roads

and divided roads and all the things consumers want to bring jobs to make a more hospitable place. these are crucial in the did see at of course, there is a lot more details and there but i think that is headed in the right direction it is moving forward. >> you spoke about infrastructure as. does that london self -- lend itself quite. >> talk about infrastructure you can give a more expansive definition there is the road and the markings but then when you start to connect white and example we have shown that technology of the traffic light of mine with the split peas technology that in your

instrument cluster you can see the light when it will turn red bird breeder how many seconds to do that. this is simple right now but fast-forward to this could go it can slow down the car knowing there is a red light pending and save fuel to be much more efficient on the traffic flow if you look at the traffic flow in long island one break tap looking at a florida attracted can spiral back 70 cars to get more traffic from all of that stuff so the other future statement is what connects not only to the infrastructure in the city but also car to car not just audi but all cars. with that intelligence could

come if all intelligence was put into a cloud then accessed you have traffic reports from 400 million cars out there that is one precise traffic report you know, about the potholes. you can get there the that is in the connected data world. another example that is futuristic look at the issue with parking think how inefficient it is you you may have just passed the spot you circle a round burning fuel and wasting time to come back around it may be taken in you go back up and get into the baton of this world cannot exactly where it is because it will go directly there but also to get yourself out of the car he will have tighter parking because you don't

have to open doors. there is a lot of opportunity with technology i am optimist. >> host: what is going on in germany? >> i think very similar. a lot of these technology for audi that experience did with uber in pittsburgh and the other manufacturers and because frankly plot of the chips and sensors and silicon valley doing what they do brilliantly is a vast and move quickly but what happens here i think the rest of the world is catching wind of the demonstrations and the announcements and now they're starting to come on board providing care very similar with a have a lot of

government regulations that was written at the turn of the 20th century somewhere updated in the '50s it needs a thorough looking at. but then gets more complicated because the european union did the individual states think it is a little bit easier here but to be in the lead of central america and because aladdin this from silicon valley and the american consumer is open to these types of things and if we get on board to see what obama has done to put america and the lead so china is headed here as well that is the holy grail. >> host: is audi working with other car companies?

>> i think we would work with a car company with the regulations and infrastructure that is a common area that we mutually agreed needs to be there but most of the technology is developed on our own. we do have a partnership is the mapping company called here jointly owned by a mercedes and bmw and audi you can imagine extremely accurate maps that will become the holy grail that was one company to invest dennis to expensive to scale that up and then for one brand supreme france got together so there are examples that nurse mart if you look at the chip technology some of that is shared whether the videos or local areas. right now we develop this because in my mind this is a

competitive enterprise someone will come in to the show room to set want the best autonomous car that there is when that conversation happens we want audi to be at the top of the list this technology will cause the reset in the marketplace to buy a luxury car they say bmw or mercedes but in the future they could say i want the autonomous car and that will cause a be said if you know, how one you are out if you do you'll be on and that is where we want to me. >> host: software companies actively aim to fail fast they experiment in the real-world the this makes sense for those developing a smart phone operating system but to fine-tune on the fly is not useful in the automotive world.

>> obviously i wrote that and i greet. sometimes they get the above rap it is a little bureaucratic or dogmatic course load to indians or to move but the truth be told there is a lot of government and regulation and the stakes are extremely high. we have people slides, their futures, families in vehicles going 65 miles per hour. everything house to be right . actually has to be right each and every time of the time for a long time. is sounds overstated but it is not if you get that break 15 miles one negative 15 years from now in iowa the brakes need to work the airbag needs to go off. if you just down loaded the latest software and you get

a flash code reset no problem there is no real major life altering impact because so ebs as it may make us proceed cautious or slower but we have to be right all the time. >> host: cybersecurity and privacy. we have seen the reports on hacking. so what about with these cars as they develop more technology quick. >> without a doubt it is a massive issue. i do not think we have all of the answers. without a doubt that is a top priority on the list when anderson stated goal to bring the technologies that are based by customers and

their regulators certainly will not go into specifics but we recognize the challenge without a doubt. >> host: how does somebody who majored in comparative literature and a better car company? >> a good question. i majored in comparative literature, at the time i would become a journalist for the new york times working in latin america was my goal. i speak spanish i wrote my pieces of latin american authors and one of the turns of my career path was to get the opportunity to work for a car company and was living in your city at the time i said i will just work there for one year it will look good and resonate they're looking for someone in the digital space low and behold

it turned into 24 years hear i am as president of audi but one thing like to say about my father who was 82 years old he bought the audi in 1972 at the time in the streets of america with the camaro is in all the others to college-- spaceships. what was my dad thinking buying the audi? it just got in my mind with the brent and i am proud to be here. >> host: have you found the federal government to be relatively passive with developing technology quite. >> idol the ink it is passive maybe i'll the engaged encouraging? absolutely 100 percent. the people in offices if had

conversations with him a number of meetings with the regulators obama said he wrote in his op-ed i was in the loss three journal he was in the pittsburgh post-gazette but 100% the government regulations saying we want to move forward so i am encouraged i have no reason yet to be discouraged. i think the technology can take all the noise aside 94% of every accident that happens is caused by human error from destruction or miscalculation. whole lot of that could be alleviated with this technology this answers the radar they're not looking at the self loans they're not 17 holding their girlfriend hamburg talking about the next party or space cow -- space that with the kids talking no high-school prom

prom, a note twitter they are just on. if you look added, the accidents and fatalities are often% so how can that be? with all of this technology in the car with a crumple zones and the airbag? there are more miles being driven the something is going on and i think this technology is a big help. >> host: finally with the wall street journal op-ed if you develop software for all automakers greg. >> this refers that everybody wants to get into the car business. rumors of apple are pending and course gruel -- google

and other people but in my mind we love this. to marginalize to the automotive page but no front-page with technology and government regulations and conversation if you look at the big three number one is the conversation number two is regulations and divergence but that change of business model now looking at the subscriber base model purses the street retail model c will see a profound amount of change that is why so many players coming in but the basic truth is to have a strong brand to embrace technology and for tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow did not defend the old world that is what we're doing.

>> president of audi of america. if you would like to see programs on technology topics go to c-span.org

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