Delphi, Mobileye see self-driving production by 2019

A forward-looking sensor is seen mounted on a Delphi autonomous car before it departs Treasure Island for a cross-country trip from San Francisco to New York City in San Francisco, California March 22, 2015. REUTERS/Stephen Lam

The self-driving Audi turned smoothly onto El Camino Real, shifted into the middle lane and after a few stoplights found itself idling behind the distinctive plastic bubble of a Google autonomous car. 

That sort of thing happens in Mountain View, the epicentre of autonomous driving tests. But whereas Google has not publicly outlined a path to commercialisation for its self-driving technology, the gear inside this particular Audi could hit the market in just a few years.