Driverless Audi RS7 races at Hockenheim

  • Audi sets standards for driverless cars
  • Audi RS7 concept at Hockenheim
  • Research to continue into piloted driving.

INGOLSTAD, Germany - At the DTM (German Touring Cars) season finale in Germany, Audi demonstrated its next step in driverless technology as its RS7 piloted driving concept completed a lap of the Hockenheim circuit, Germany at racing speed but without a driver.

According to Audi, the lap on the Grand Prix circuit took the Audi RS7 concept slightly over two minutes to complete and it "piloted with high precision and accuracy to within centimetres".

DRIVERLESS RACERS

Professor Ulrich Hackenberg, board member for technical development for Audi AG, said:  “The top performance by the Audi RS7 today substantiates the skills of our development team. The derivations from series production, particularly in terms of precision and performance, are of great value for our further development steps.”

VIDEO: Driverless Audi RS7 takes on Hockenheim
 
For orientation on the track, the vehicle used specially corrected GPS signals which its transmitted via wi-fi according to the automotive standard as well as redundantly via high-frequency radio. It used 3D cameras to film the track and a computer to compare the footage against stored data.

According to Audi, this is what makes it possible for the technology pioneer to orientate itself on the track.
 
Audi said: "Piloted driving is one of the most important development fields at Audi. The first successful developments were achieved 10 years earlier. The test results continually flow into series development. The latest test runs at the physical limit are providing Audi engineers with insights for the development of automatic avoidance functions in critical driving situations, for example."
 
The latest driver assistance systems from Audi can be experienced in the updated A6 and A7 Sportback which are equipped with side assist, active lane assist, and adaptive cruise control with stop/go function including Audi pre-sense front.
 
Experts from Volkswagen Group Research, the Electronics Research Laboratory (ERL) and Stanford University (both in California) are supporting Audi as partners in the further development of piloted systems.