Audi’s driverless TTS Coupé to tackle Pikes Peak Hill Climb
Audi’s driverless TTS Coupé to tackle Pikes Peak Hill Climb
Audi is set to return to a venue synonymous with its past motorsport
successes when a ‘driverless’ TTS Coupé quattro tackles the infamous
Pikes Peak Hill Climb in the USA. The Autonomous Audi TTS Coupé is the
direct result of work underway at the Volkswagen Group Automotive
Innovation Laboratory (VAIL), which is a collaborative effort set up by
the Volkswagen Group Electronics Research Laboratory and Stanford
University USA to advance car technology. Currently in the testing
phase, the Autonomous Audi TTS is being developed for several real-world
driving challenges in 2010, including a drive up the legendary 20km
(12.42 miles) Pikes Peak Hill Climb route in Colorado. This will not be
a competition run, however, and is separate from the actual Hill Climb
Championships being staged next June.
The VAIL team has converted a standard Audi TTS to ‘drive by wire’ and
is developing a safety system to ensure a reliable autonomous drive that
can perform a vehicle shutdown if it determines conditions have become
unsafe. The Autonomous TTS is currently controlled by a computer located
in the boot, but next year Stanford algorithms will be running in the
car using Java ‘real time’ receiving programming updates via telemetry
with a range of 20 miles. Ultimately, it is envisioned that aerial
towers will be able to send and receive signals to these cars in a
manner similar to cellular mobile telephone aerials today. As a backup
solution, the vehicle includes a telemetry system that can transmit all
vehicle parameters to a receiving station up to 20 miles away, which can
also shut down the vehicle remotely, or order the safety systems to
engage and bring the car to a controlled stop.
The project is not aimed at making motorists dispensable. Instead, it is
intended to explore the best capabilities of current and future driver
assistance technologies to help enhance the experience behind the
steering wheel. Dr Burkhard Huhnke, executive director of the
Electronics Research Laboratory, has noted that the technology found in
the Autonomous Audi TTS could help motorists respond more effectively to
changing traffic conditions to reduce road congestion and allow better
reactions to hazards. Huhnke comments, “We believe that developing a car
that can perform as well, and respond as rapidly, as a ‘professional’
driver, like a race or rally driver, will eventually be able to drive
its way around incidents in a way that a ‘normal’ driver couldn’t. While
a less experienced driver may freeze, or make the wrong ‘correction’,
the Autonomous TTS would be able to take over or guide the driver to
escape from a critical situation. It could also compensate if a driver
is inattentive to conditions or distracted, but of course it won’t
prevent all accidents.”
