Audi's RS 7 Piloted Driving Concept Races Around Sonoma
Audi’s autonomous cars have reached another milestone; after unleashing an RS 7 on the Hockenheimring circuit (where said car lapped the track faster than a human driving a V8 R8) and completing an 885-kilometre drive in an autonomous A7 from San Francisco to Las Vegas, the German manufacturer has now turned its sights to American tracks.
On the Sonoma circuit, the RS 7 Piloted Driving Concept managed to post a 2:01:01 time. To achieve this result, the car was lightened after being raced in Germany, and is now 399 kilos lighter.
Since the car is controlled solely by a computer, the results were surgical. The RS 7 got roughly the same time, lap after lap after lap. The manufacturer also said that their pro drivers couldn’t match the computer’s performance.
This kind of test is important for Audi, as it collects a load of data from the onboard sensors and cameras, among other things.
The first car to use these new technologies will be the 2017 Audi A8; it will be able to park itself and drive through city centres at low speeds.