We had a chance to be driven around in the Renault Zoe Autonomous – here’s a quick drive experience

Posted on 2019-08-09 by ayushkhanna in Automotive // 0 Comments

It seems that self-driving is going out of fashion. And it became largely evident being driven around in the Renault Zoe Autonomous in the University of Paris-Saclay. Read on.

New Delhi, India, 2019-Aug-09 — /EPR Network/ — If you are someone who loves driving – grinding gears and spending some nice time behind the wheel – automatic or autonomous cars might appear as a gimmick. To us, we were left completely redundant driven around the Renault Zoe which appears to take its driving cues from artificial intelligence, rather than a primitive. So, this is our first drive experience of the Renault Zoe Autonomous review.

The car you see here is the Renault Zoe Autonomous which is fully autonomous – well, sort of. After all, the autonomous Renault is still limited to the University of Paris-Saclay on the outskirts of the French capital. As a result, the Zoe isn’t exactly ready to face the chaotic traffic at the Arc de Triomphe roundabout in Paris, as of writing this review. This is part of a pilot project being run by a public transport multinational, the Transdev Group, technology companies IRT SystemX & VEDECOM, automaker Renault and the University of Paris-Saclay. So, why a consortium you ask? Well, since this is a complete paradigm shift in the automotive industry, it requires technologies that are far beyond the reach of a conventional automaker. The car just forms a part of the process, you have the electric propulsion systems, radar-based technologies and thousands of lines of codes to ensure that the vehicles remain impossible to hack and gain control remotely.

So, there is no-one behind the wheel? For the time being, there is a safety driver who needs to take control if needed. That said, in our first-drive experience, the driver didn’t need to take control even once. The Zoe fantastically navigated through roads, junctions and even single lane roads with oncoming vehicles. But hey, nothing is perfect, right? And the biggest challenge for the Zoe appeared to be the two-legged kind! The only time Zoe hesitated was when it encountered pedestrians and runners who approached faster than expected. For now, they’ll have to work on that. Renault is also testing a number of variants for the Zoe – some with enough tech to enable autonomous driving without relying on any external surfaces, while others with fewer tech so that it requires some assistance from the infrastructure around it. Will it make it to India? Given the driving conditions, it’s a debate we’ll have to discuss some other day. To read our full Renault Zoe Autonomous review and driving experience, be sure to pay a visit to autoX.

At autoX, we strive to deliver the latest automotive news and reviews before a car makes its way in the Indian market. We push our cars to the limit a little more than others to bring out an extensive review to the automotive fans.

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