Audi's Nearly Self-Driving Car Is On Its Way From San Francisco To Las Vegas

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German automaker Audi is taking its piloted driving concept car on its first long-distance test drive. The Audi A7 will drive from California's Silicon Valley to Las Vegas, a distance of about 550 miles (900 km). 

The car is expected to arrive in Las Vegas on Tuesday morning,  just in time for the International CES 2015, one of the world's biggest events for electronics and technology. 

The auto pilot system works only up to a speed of 70 mph (110 km/h), and allows the car to change lanes and speed ahead of other vehicles. 

To navigate, the car used in the test, called "Jack," uses a combination of radar sensors in different positions of the car, two laser scanners, a 3D camera in the front of the vehicle, and four more cameras on the side.

A team of journalists and car experts have been invited to take part in the test, with each journalist travelling about 100 miles (180 km) while sitting in the driver's seat. If everything goes to plan, the driver will hardly touch the wheel. A professional test driver will sit in the passenger seat for added safety.

The car left Stanford, California, on Sunday morning:

Audi

Head back here for more pictures and updates once the car arrives in Vegas. 

In the meantime, check out this video of a previous test of an auto pilot system with an Audi RS7 in the signature environment of the Hockenheim racing circuit in Germany.