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Robotic Audi To Brave Pikes Peak Without a Driver
Scifi83 writes "A team of researchers at the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford (CARS) has filled the trunk of an Audi TTS with computers and GPS receivers, transforming it into a vehicle that drives itself. The car will attempt Pikes Peak without a driver at race speeds, something that's never been done."
Observe trials from uphill side of road.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
Having raced up Pikes Peak myself, I think this is pretty impressive. The road surface varies from almost-pavement-quality treated packed dirt, to completely loose gravel on rut-filled rock, with (as I recall) an average 10% climb. It'd be a great test ground for offroad stuff at a slow speed with nobody else on the road, but doing it at full speed requires a *lot* more than just the ability to see where the roadway is: giving a robot the ability to keep a fast car from skidding/sliding on loose gravel on an off-camber turn appears to me to be a wholly different type of challenge than previous autonomous driving projects.
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
Easy. Watching it succeed will be more astonishing.
Watching it fail will be more entertaining (assuming some safety precautions preventing anyone from being killed).
Audi, specifically Audi Quattros, have been rally car favorites for years. Big engine, good tranny, four wheel drive. There are a lot of people that know how to get them running well, and the cars are built well to do the job.
Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now, and let us slay him... and we shall see what will become of his dreams.