Renault Doesn’t Think Autonomous Cars Are Anywhere Near Reality

But it will focus on fully autonomous public transport

15 May 2024

2016's Renault Trezor concept, which had autonomous capabilities

It wasn’t that long ago when fully autonomous cars seemed like they’d be the next big automotive tech breakthrough, with plenty of big manufacturers envisioning near futures where we were all whisked about effortlessly in glassy, spacious pods, probably while texting and drinking a glass of wine and doing all the other things you can’t do when in control of a car.

Of course, over the last few years, the reality has hit many companies that autonomous cars are incredibly difficult and expensive to develop, and that the customer demand and legislation for them simply doesn’t exist.

As a result, lots of car companies have gone a little quiet on their autonomous ambitions, and now Renault has outright said it doesn’t believe cars capable of anything beyond Level 2 autonomy are anywhere near reality yet.

The six widely agreed-on levels of vehicle autonomy are defined in fairly complex ways, but what’s important here is Level 2, which plenty of modern cars are capable of. It’s effectively a combination of radar cruise control and lane keep assist, allowing cars to travel short distances along motorways with zero input from the organic thing behind the wheel, with the caveat that said organic thing is still ultimately responsible and must always be ready to take back control if prompted.

Renault and WeRide's autonomous shuttle bus

It’s at this level that Renault reckons things are going to stay for now. It said in a press release that any development beyond this “seems unlikely for the time being, given current regulations, customer expectations and the cost of the complex technology involved.”

Renault does, however, have greater faith in autonomous tech for public transport, which is why it’s trialling a driverless shuttle bus, together with autonomous specialists WeRide, at the upcoming Roland-Garros tennis tournament. It has further plans to introduce a fleet of similar vehicles to the public transit network in the French city of Châteauroux in 2026, which is where you’ll need to head if you want to experience an autonomous Renault any time soon.

The first full sentence spoken by an infant Mike was a review of the ride quality of a Volvo 850. It was “Daddy’s car goes bumpy-bump on a bumpy road,” so would probably need proofreading a bit, but it was a start.