Skip to main content

Audi Acting Alone: Piloted Driving RS7 Hockenheimring Run To Be Streamed Live

On Sunday, drivers of the German DTM series will converge for their final race of the 2014 season at the famed Hockenheiming. A league of drivers topped by BMW's Marco Wittman in 2014 (Wittman has locked-up this year's championship), DTM sees Audi RS5, BMW M4 and Mercedes C-Class race cars muscled around race tracks due to the direct result of the human element at the controls. For the last race weekend of 2014, a special, attention-grabbing Audi RS7 Sportback will be navigated around the famed German road course absent a driver.

Scheduled to make an appearance on-track Sunday prior to the main feature for DTM, the Audi RS7 Piloted Driving concept vehicle will negotiate the 4.574-kilometer Hockenhiemring circuit guided only by its autonomous drive technology. A 560-horsepower supercar many human drivers will simply long to wheel, the Audi RS7 five-door coupe conversion to a driverless concept vehicle involved few changes over the production vehicle with the quattro all-wheel drive and eight-speed tiptronic still present. Audi Piloted Driving technology added to the RS7 Sportback involves an intelligent network of controls for steering, throttle, braking and gear shifting guided by a GPS data transmitted through WLAN.

Early in 2013, an autonomous Audi TTS was given a drivers license in the state of Nevada. The driverless sports car now approved to be experimentally tested on Nevada roads has been the result of Audi working with Stanford University and Volkswagen Group Electronics Research Lab. In what has been previously one of Audi's greatest public exhibitions of their Piloted Driving technology, a TTS was launched up the historical hill of Pikes Peak in 2010. In that exhibition, the driverless car accomplished the hill climb in 27 minutes travelling at an average speed of just 27.6 miles per hour in that run. As a testament to the advancement of autonomous Piloted Driving technology from Audi, the auto brand estimates the driverless RS7 Sportback will achieve a full lap in 2 minutes and 10 seconds around the Hockenheimring on Sunday.

The Hockenheimring run is shaping to be the most public exhibits of Audi Piloted Driving technology. Easily over 100,000 race fans is expected to be on-hand to witness the Audi RS7 Piloted Driving concept running at performance thresholds few driverless cars have trekked. Additionally, Audi is preparing to live stream the run on the Internet.

Please take note this Car FYI article has included the Audi's live video stream. The live broadcast will start at 6:45 am eastern time with a behind the scenes look at the Audi RS7 Piloted Driving car with track time scheduled at 6:50 am.




Information and photo source: Audi AG

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Canadian Star Car: Red Green's Possum Van

Clip of Possum Van during a Red Green Show season 1 scene transition.  It could be argued that the car someone regularly drives can be reflective of their personality. The level of character traits found in our automobiles can range from subtle to flamboyant as practicality, style, power, brand loyalty and other details are factors influencing our vehicle affection. On the big screen and silver screen, an automobile (frequently popularized as a Star Car) can be used to affirmatively to expand on a human character. Batman’s Batmobile, the Dodge Charger called the ‘General Lee’ in Dukes of Hazzard, the Volvo P1800 featured in the 1960s television version of The Saint, the Aston Martin DB5 driven by James Bond in some of the most famous spy movies are some popular examples where vehicles play a major role in reinforcing the appearance of fictional individuals. Due to the budgetary constraints of Canadian media productions, the presence of native Star Cars is rare. However, one success...

Honda’s Secret 30th Anniversary In Indy Car Racing

Photo Credit: Engine Developments Ltd. Too many times, forgetting an anniversary would end with someone spending time in the proverbial doghouse. This has apparently happened this year as the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series season concluded with no major celebrations or recognition for what is 30 years since a major current partner of American open wheel racing began participation in the sport. The following article is a collection of the details I’ve learned as well as some insight from engine builder John Judd on what was a quiet 30th anniversary in the Verizon IndyCar Series. During the week where the 30th running of the Canadian street race now known as the Honda Indy Toronto, I was compelled to capture the flavour of the inaugural event. The viewing experience provided me some insight into a period of time where I was too young to absorb auto racing in the manner I do today. A race that featured television coverage with no regular onscreen statistics, the league used a local ...

The 1967 Indy 500: When An STP-Sponsored Turbine Almost Changed Racing

Photo Credit: Uncredited Photographer/IMS LLC Racing has always been the ultimate proving ground for automobiles. Not only has competition promoted innovations big and small, race cars have also influenced overall vehicle appearance. At the 1967 Indianapolis 500, the STP-Paxton TurboCar fielded by the late Andy Granatelli provided a shocking example of how much racing at the speedway evolved over 56 years. Ever since the first 500-mile event was held at the 2.5-mile rectangular oval Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1911, the winning Marmon Wasp with a rearview mirror paved the way for what would be a grand showcase of automotive development. Accompanying “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” advancements in automobile technology showed greater sophistication with every passing decade in the quest for more speed. During the 1920s and 1930s, American race car designer Henry Miller offered groundbreaking engines to the Indianapolis 500. Miller also gave front-wheel drive technology it...