Audi has further improved its RS7 Piloted Driving Concept, which has recently been put to the test on one of the world’s most challenging race tracks, the Sonoma Raceway in California.
In October 2014, an RS 7 nicknamed “Bobby” completed a driverless lap on the Hockenheim circuit at speeds up to 240 km/h (149 mph). The new generation of the car is called “Robby,” has the same power output (560PS or 552hp, but is around 400kg (882lbs) lighter than its predecessor.
Obviously, Robby delivers better performance than Bobby.
The new RS7 Piloted Driving Concept took just 2:01.01 minutes to complete the 4,050-meter (2.5 mi) circuit. “In Sonoma, we took the Audi RS7 piloted driving concept to its physical limits lap after lap, and it handled the task with uniform precision. The car turned in lap times that were better than those of sports car drivers,” said Thomas Müller, who is responsible for the development of brake, steering and driver assistance systems at Audi.
Audi will be offering piloted driving for the first time in the upcoming generation of the Audi A8. That’s why company is also testing piloted driving in real road traffic. Earlier this year, an Audi A7 prototype called “Jack” drove on public highways from Silicon Valley to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
Later on, the same car drove autonomously on German autobahns at speeds up to 130 km/h (81 mph). Audi says its piloted driving technology will increase safety, time savings, efficiency and convenience. The systems can take control of the car during parking or in stop-and-go traffic on freeways at speeds up to 60 km/h (37 mph).
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