Audi hopes to lap the Hockenheim circuit in just 2:10 with the autonomous RS7 race car.
“Gentlemen, start your engines!”
Might that classic announcement no longer be necessary? Then again, would NASCAR or Formula One fans be willing to pay for tickets to see a line of unmanned vehicles lapping tracks like the Indianapolis Brickyard or even the streets of Monte Carlo?
We may get a better sense this weekend, when Audi unleashes its Piloted RS7 Concept on the Hockenheimring race circuit prior to the finale of the DTM race series. Despite what the name might seem to suggest, the prototype will run laps without anyone onboard.
Autonomous vehicle technology has been gaining plenty of attention in recent months. Nissan has promised to put its first self-driving vehicle into production by 2020. Cadillac’s SuperDrive will allow autonomous highway driving when it reaches showrooms in 2017. And Google is already rolling out the first of its new autonomous vehicle prototypes.
But there’s a big difference between going 65 down a highway, or even maneuvering a busy urban boulevard, and launching into the corners of a banked race track at 200+ miles per hour.
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This autonomous Audi TTS set a record on the Bonneville Salt Flats in 2009 before heading to Pikes Peak for the annual hill climb a year later.
This isn’t the first time Audi has tinkered with an autonomous race car. The maker launched a self-piloted version of its TTS coupe down the Bonneville Salt Flats in 2009, achieving around 132 mph, a record for an autonomous vehicle.
A year later, it set out for the grueling Pikes Peak hill climb, all 156 turns up 12.42 miles of mountain roads. Nicknamed Shelley, the Audi TTS made its way through the unpaved section of that run in 27 minutes. By comparison, the manned record for that stretch was just over 10 minutes. But the autonomous Audi also managed to hold to within inches from its planned route up the entire course.
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This year, Audi has gone with a modified version of its RS7 hatchback, something it is calling “the sportiest piloted driving car in the world.”
Unlike some earlier autonomous prototypes, all the necessary hardware and software will be self-contained. The only link to the outside world will be used to monitor the RS7 concept’s behavior on the track. Using GPS, cameras and other sensors, the autonomous race car is expected to make a lap of the Hockenheimring in as little as 2:10, a strong showing if not quite up to what the DTM racers will achieve later in the day.
A schematic of the autonomous RS7 Concept.
The track is a challenging one. But Audi says that is only a prelude to what will be the real proof of this technological pudding, a subsequent assault on what is generally considered the world’s toughest race course, the Nurburgring Nordschliefe, in Northern Germany, with its 154 turns spread out over 13 miles of tarmac and concrete. Few human drivers have ever truly been able to master the ‘Ring.
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Like many of its competitors, Audi often has turned to the race track to both test and publicize new technologies. It has become the dominant force in the world of endurance motor sports with its diesel-powered race cars and, more recently added hybrid technologies that are meant to highlight its plug-in e-tron passenger vehicles.
Racing could help demonstrate just how far autonomous vehicle systems have come as they finally prepare for the transition from science fiction to everyday reality. But whether we might see a whole new motor sports series dedicated to self-driving race cars remains to be seen. It’s hard to imagine fans getting quite so worked up about a NASCAR without the good old boys behind the wheel.
Then again, Pixar scored well with its animated “Cars” films. Perhaps there could be a future for autonomous racing – though Audi would likely have to come up with a better nickname than Shelley for its future models.