Audi to lap Hockenheim in driverless RS7

Fri, 10 Oct 2014

An automaker like Audi will always have a number of different research and development projects going at the same time, and some of them might take on very different approaches. At one end, you'll have its racing programs, and at what you'd assume would be the other, self-driving prototypes. But Ingolstadt is preparing to bridge that gap by running an autonomous prototype at racing speed around the famed Hockenheimring.

Set to take place on Sunday, October 19, during the DTM season finale at Hockenheim, the driverless RS7 will motor at speeds up to 150 miles per hour, right up "to its physical limits with millimeter precision."

Audi anticipates that "the world's sportiest piloted driving car" will run a lap time of just over two minutes, at which the RS7 would stand not only to be the fastest driverless car ever to lap the circuit, but also potentially the fastest four-door – if it can beat the 2:02.71 lap time set by a BMW M3 sedan in 2007.

The lap record for street-legal production cars around the Hockenheim GP circuit stands at 1:48.5, set by the Porsche 918 Spyder last year. Kimi Raikkonen has held the outright record since 2009 when he clocked a 1:13.78 lap time in his McLaren MP4-19.

Ingolstadt, 2014-10-09
At the limit: Audi shows the world's sportiest piloted driving car

- Audi to demonstrate piloted driving potential at DTM finale
- Audi RS 7 piloted driving concept car at the Hockenheimring race track

Audi takes the world's sportiest piloted driving car to the starting line: A driverless Audi RS 7 Sportback* will take a lap on the Hockenheim race track on Sunday, October 19, in the season finale of the German Touring Car Championship (DTM).

The Audi RS 7 piloted driving concept car will handle the Hockenheim track at racing speed. With the latest Audi developments on board, the technology demonstrator will drive to its physical limits with millimeter precision. In the process, it will be approximately as fast as with a professional race car driver at the wheel. Tests conducted so far indicate that on the grand prix track a lap time of just over two minutes can be expected, and that the technology demonstrator should reach speeds of up to 240 km/h (149.1 mph). With the Audi RS 7 piloted driving concept car, Audi wants to show the great potential of piloted driving, which the premium carmaker has lined up for the future.

The performance of the world's sportiest piloted driving car will be broadcasted live and exclusively on the Internet on October 19 starting at 12:45 p.m. on Audi MediaTV.

More information will be available starting Tuesday, October 14, at 2:00 p.m. here.

Fuel consumption of the models named above:
Audi RS 7 Sportback:
Combined fuel consumption in l/100 km: 9.5** (24.8 US mpg);
Combined CO2 emissions in g/km: 221** (355.7 g/mi)

**The fuel consumption and the CO2 emissions of a vehicle vary due to the choice of wheels and tires. They not only depend on the efficient utilization of the fuel by the vehicle, but are also influenced by driving behavior and other non-technical factors.

By Noah Joseph