Audi has just completed the longest self-driving journey from Silicon Valley, California to New York.

It's much longer than most test drives that only last a few hundred miles across California where self-driving cars are legally allowed on roads for testing.

This is a big step in terms of self-driving availability in the United States. Audi still needs to run more tests with urban areas involved since this is the place where most self-driving platforms are seeing issues.

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The 3,400 mile trek will provide good data for Audi but the automotive manufacturer hasn't shared it with other self-driving competitors. That means we're likely to see Google, Tesla and other self-driving manufacturers try this coast to coast test in the next few months.

Tesla is the first car company to announce autonomous features coming to the U.S. It claims the features in its Model S are pilot mode more than a full autonomous vehicle. Some legislators are looking into the new features and might issue bans on Model S vehicles if the vehicle is deemed unsafe.

The Chinese search giant Baidu has also announced a self-driving car will be arriving by the end of the year. It's not clear how Baidu expects to build a fully functioning self-driving platform and manufacture the car, but it would fit with the broad visions of the company.

Google, on the other hand, isn't announcing any launch times for its own self-driving platform. It has partnered with Ford, General Motors and a few other U.S. and German manufacturers but there's no concrete launch date.

The year 2017 seems to be the time when most legislators will fully legalize self-driving. But until that time, we might be in a murky world where companies try and claim their features are auto-pilot rather than fully autonomous, to avoid bans.

Audi hasn't commented on if or when it will make the Audi SQ5 with Delphi Automotive self-driving technology available. It seems unlikely considering the German manufacturer has said it has no plans in the near future to commercialize the self-driving platform.

TagsSan Francisco, audi, Self-Driving Car, Audi SQ5, Delphi Automotive