Audi RS 7 piloted driving concept turns in best performance so far at Sonoma Raceway
13 July 2015
Audi ran the latest generation of its Audi RS 7 piloted driving concept at the Sonoma Raceway in California, surpassing prior performance. The RS 7 took just 2:01.01 minutes to complete the 4,050-meter (2.5 mi) circuit. Audi will be offering piloted driving for the first time in the upcoming generation of the Audi A8; the systems can assume control of the car during parking or in stop-and-go traffic on freeways at speeds up to 60 km/h (37.3 mph).
Audi has been testing piloted driving under increasingly challenging conditions. In October 2014, an RS 7 nicknamed “Bobby” completed a driverless lap on the Hockenheimring at speeds up to 240 km/h (149.1 mph). The new generation of the car is named “Robby,” has a power output of 412 kW (560 hp) and is around 400 kg (881.8 lb) lighter than its predecessor. Whether braking, steering or accelerating, the piloted car controls all driving functions fully autonomously.
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In Sonoma, we took the Audi RS 7 piloted driving concept to its physical limits lap after lap, and it handled the task with uniform precision. The car turned in lap times that were better than those of sports car drivers.
—Thomas Müller, responsible for the development of brake, steering and driver assistance systems at Audi
Audi is also testing piloted driving in the challenging situation of real road traffic. At the start of 2015, “Jack”—an Audi A7 piloted driving concept with many near-production solutions—drove on public highways from Silicon Valley to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). (Earlier post.) Shortly thereafter, this car also drove autonomously on German autobahns at speeds up to 130 km/h (80.8 mph).
At CES Asia in May 2015, journalists also had an opportunity to experience piloted driving in the traffic of megacity Shanghai. The company also showcased a piloted driving technology study version of the new R8 e-tron battery-electric sports car, introduced at the Geneva show. (Earlier post.)
The development work, which includes driving on a very wide array of testing grounds, is yielding valuable knowledge for series-production systems, from the sensor technology and data processing to vehicle control and stabilization.
So begins the rise of the machines. Skynet is coming.
:)
Posted by: DaveD | 13 July 2015 at 07:30 AM
Hmmm. I keep hearing from "analysts" and fans that Tesla is actually leading the world in driverless autos. Have they done anything to compare to this or the Delphi coast-to-coast run?
Posted by: Herman | 13 July 2015 at 08:29 AM
@Herman:
No.
Automatic braking in software upgrade 6.2 is about as far as they go.
But Musk has great aspirations.
Not quite up to, for instance, the VW Up so far though.
Posted by: Davemart | 13 July 2015 at 09:11 AM
But the lap record is 1:21.688! Also by an Audi (Marco Werner, 2004). Let's see the RS7 beat the lap record, then count me impressed :)
Posted by: JN2 | 13 July 2015 at 11:56 AM
JN2,
I remember about 10 years ago, DARPA had their first "Grand Challenge" which was impressive that some of the teams made it like 11 miles, but it was S L O W and they were just getting started.
The fact that 10 years later we're considering self driving cars in the near future is freaking impressive. On open, PUBLIC roads, no less.
Posted by: DaveD | 13 July 2015 at 07:34 PM