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Elon Musk: Teslas will already know where we’re going

In the future, cars will drive us. And probably not surprisingly, they'll often know where to go without us even needing to tell them. That's the theme of a short back-and-forth conversation on Twitter recently between Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk and a user who tagged him in a comment suggesting that "it would be cool" to be able to tell a car where to go. Responding to user James Harvey, Musk replied, "It won't even need to ask you most of the time." Later, after Harvey asked how the car would know where he wants to go, another user suggested that the car would know what time you go to work. "Yeah, don't exactly need to be Sherlock Holmes," Musk tweeted. It won't even need to ask you most of the time — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 21, 2017 Yeah, don't exactly need to be Sherlock Holmes. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 21, 2017 That the ability to know where we're going will be part of our future driving experience shouldn't be surprising. After all, the smartphones we carry around already possess the ability to predict what we want — think Google's cleverness in tailoring search results or providing traffic information just before your commute, Facebook's highly customized News Feed content or even auto-fill technology, which can predict the words you're typing. And plenty of automakers have been touting their own work in developing in-car artificial intelligence systems. Like Audi's Elaine concept, which will be able to learn, think and even empathize with drivers. Or Mitsubishi's e-Evolution concept, which can not only assist your driving, but also assess your skills and teach you how to improve them. Tesla's vehicles, of course, are being outfitted with all the latest autonomous driver-assist technology, with the automaker eager to one day reach full Level 5 self-driving capability. According to Inc., Teslas will be able to listen and respond to directional commands, and they'll even have access to your calendar to comb for information about where you need to go. Tesla has also said it's developing an update to its Autopilot hardware and remains on track to achieve full Level 5 autonomous driving by the end of this year, which strikes a lot of people as wildly unrealistic. At any rate, the promise of cars knowing what time we're sneaking out to get donuts or picking up the kids is interesting, coming from the man who has warned that AI presents "a fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization."Related Video:

Audi confirms autonomous tech for next-gen A8

Like so many of its rivals, Audi is hard at work getting its autonomous driving technology up to speed and ready to reach the market. And now it's revealed when we can expect that time to come – or at least in what form it will arrive. In announcing the achievements of its latest RS7 Piloted Driving prototype, Audi has confirmed that the system will be offered for the first time on the next A8, the upcoming iteration of the German automaker's flagship sedan. Just as we heard this past January, the next-gen A8 will be able to drive itself around town at speeds of up to 37 miles per hour. Ingolstadt still isn't saying when we can expect the new A8 to arrive, but considering that the current model has been around since 2009 (albeit with periodic updates along the way) and that its key rivals – the Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7 Series – are both much newer models, Audi shouldn't be waiting much longer to launch its new flagship. The announcement was made as part of the reveal for "Robby," the latest version of the company's self-driving RS7 concept. The previous version, dubbed "Bobby," was based on the same model, and gave our man Jonathon Buckley over at Translogic a run for his money around Ascari a few months ago. (We'll let you watch the video below to see who fared better). But the new version is a good 882 pounds lighter, lapping the Sonoma Raceway (previously known as Infineon or Sears Point) in 2:01.01. That's in what is ostensibly still a road car, just one that's operated by a computer. The fastest lap ever recorded on the full 2.5-mile circuit, in case you were wondering, was also achieved in an Audi, but that was the R8 Le Mans Prototype that Allan McNish hustled around in a 1:20.68 qualifying lap. Related Video: 07/13/15 Sonoma/Ingolstadt Faster than a sports car driver: Audi pilots itself on US race track - Testing the new-generation Audi RS 7 piloted driving concept - Top lap times on Sonoma Raceway in California Piloted driving at Audi is approaching production readiness at race pace. On one of the world's most challenging race tracks, the Sonoma Raceway in California, the latest generation of the Audi RS 7 piloted driving concept has surpassed previous top performances once again. Audi will be offering piloted driving for the first time in the upcoming generation of the Audi A8.

The Audi RS3 LMS looks hot and ready

Audi had several reveals this week at the Paris Motor Show, but nothing was more batty than the new RS3 LMS race car. Audi's latest hot homologation car starts with the all-new RS3 sedan, removes all of the unnecessary bits and adds all the racing-spec equipment you could want. The result is a full-prepped, relatively affordable factory race car. That relatively affordable part is very important. Audi Sport, the division behind the R8 LMS as well as the R and RS road cars, designed the RS3 LMS for the still-new TCR FIA-spec racing series. The cars will cost about $112,000 USD for the club sport version and $145,000 with the six-speed sequential transmission. Not bad for a fully FIA-friendly factory machine. The new TCR series races follow other FIA series like Formula 1 and WEC. <p>Your browser does not support iframes.</p> All that cash get's nets you a pretty badass looking car, especially in Audi's black and red paint scheme. As you can see in the photos, the RS3 LMS is far wider than the standard sedan, which is fairly compact by modern standards. The requisite giant rear wing is present, as is the big front splitter. The RS3 LMS ditches the new road car's dual exhaust for a cool looking single, center-exit pipe. Inside, it's all bare metal and plastic, ditching any semblance of road-going civility. Under the hood, the RS3 LMS loses the new 2.5-liter turbocharged inline-five and replaces it with Volkswagen's 2.0-liter turbocharged four. In this application, the engine pumps out a healthy 330 horsepower. Audi claims a 0 to 60 mph time of 4.5 seconds. Audi says customer deliveries will start in December, so look for the new car on track starting in 2017. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2017 Audi RS3 LMS: Paris 2016 View 10 Photos Related Gallery 2017 Audi RS 3 LMS View 11 Photos Image Credit: Drew Phillips Motorsports Paris Motor Show Audi Racing Vehicles 2016 paris motor show