In the fall of 2014, Audi sent ‘Bobby’, a self-driving RS 7 prototype, to Germany’s Hockenheimring. This year, the German carmaker has built ‘Bobby’ a little brother, ‘Robby’, which was sent to California’s Sonoma Raceway.
According to Digital Trends, ‘Robby’ lapped the 2.5-mile circuit in 2:01.1. Thomas Müller, development engineer, said that the car turned in lap times that “were better than those of sports car drivers”.
Compared to ‘Bobby’, ‘Robby’ is 400 pounds lighter, but has the same 560 horsepower output as its big brother.
Both cars use GPS signals and installed cameras to orient themselves on a given track and to provide more precise situational awareness. Software on the cars compare the images from the camera to images from a locally-stored database to display the help the cars pinpoint their exact positions at any given time. Audi says that commands are then transmitted to hardware to control the steering, brakes and acceleration. The company also said that the cars can be as ferocious as any human driver.
Some of these functions are useful in everyday life - especially if you are tired and stuck in a traffic jam.
Last year, ‘Bobby’ lapped the Hockenheimring tracks at speeds of 240km/h. Audi stated that the car was designed to tackle corners like a professional race driver and that the car even generated cornering forces of 1g without getting dizzy.
Audi’s ‘Jack’ – a road-going self-driving A7 – drove from California to Las Vegas for CES earlier this year. The car covered over 500 miles, with some help from human drivers. However, in Germany, the car drove the autobahns itself, with speeds of 80mph, and even gave demonstrations in Shanghai traffic during CES Asia 2015.
Audi's A8 sedan, the first production car with the ability to self-drive. (Audi)
All of this knowledge will be used in Audi’s next-generation A8 sedan. This will be the first production car from Audi with the ability to drive itself. The car will pilot itself in traffic, at speeds of 60km/h and it will manoeuver itself in and out of parking spaces. It may not be as exciting as the RS 7 prototypes, but the A8 aspects are surely something drivers are willing to give up to the machines.