Daimler estimates autonomous cars will be on specially selected highways within the decade as sensor technology progressively upgrades.

Addressing delegates at the recent Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum, Daimler senior manager driving automation, Eberhard Zeeb outlined some of the German automaker’s thinking at “The Coming Revolution in Transport” session.

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“Autonomous is not a revolution at the moment, maybe it is already an evolution,” said Zeeb. “Since 20 years we started to introduce driver assistance systems based on sensors.

“Cars got better and better and today cars are able to brake by themselves. The car keeps the lane and speed of course. Still the driver is stays responsible.

“If you go further on, I think within this decade we will be able to drive cars on road with somewhat better sensors for the same price as we sell our cars today, which will be able to drive by themselves in special situations [on] highways or traffic jams.

Key to swift development is greater development of sensors says Zeeb, noting Daimler has already conducted a driverless trial in the German city of Mannheim, although he conceded the operation was difficult.

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“Still it is a challenge to do this in a safe way all the time,” he said, adding: “If you can spend the money, I think there are some businesses where you could do that with car sharing companies or truck manufacturers [for example].

“The car [could] drive to a customer if a car sharing company, without a driver. In ten, 20 years…you will have technology [where a] car has a driver or be driven on its own.”