Delphi's autonomous car successfully finishes cross-country trip

The Delphi Automotive autonomous vehicle successfully completed a trip from San Francisco to New York, marking the longest autonomous vehicle campaign. The vehicle used was a customized Audi SQ5 SUV, and was first unveiled during the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January.

The vehicle uses six long-range radars, three vision-based cameras, four short-range radars, six lidars, and customized software algorithms working to help the vehicle navigate itself. Engineers hope to use data collected during the 3,500-mile journey to help refine its efforts, while setting future goals for autonomous technology.

"The car actually handled extremely well," said Wayne Cunningham, car tech editor of CNET, after getting the chance to drive the vehicle. "When it saw other cars around, it slowed down. It was following the lane lines too."

Automakers believe it will be 2020 at the earliest before self-driving vehicles hit the road, but seems more realistic that 2025-2030 will see multiple breakthroughs.