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."

Comments

Re:Mount Evans Road

[Clomer]

I've never been on Mt. Evans, but being from Colorado Springs (at the base of Pikes Peak), I have driven up Pikes Peak. Not as a racer, mind you, just as a tourist, in my '02 Saturn SL2.

It's not a simple road. Even going slowly, you definitely have to pay attention. Lots of loose gravel and dirt where a moments inattention can result in a skid where you go driving right off the side of the mountain. And as others have pointed out, the difference in elevation wreaks havoc on engine efficiency - going from about 8000 feet elevation at the toll gate to just over 14000 feet at the summit, my car was noticeably more sluggish near the top than it usually is (Colorado Springs, where I do most of my driving, averages at about 6500 feet). As an indication of the hazards of the road, every once in a while there is a local news report of someone driving off the road to their doom.

Every summer, there is an organized race up the mountain, the Annual Pikes Peak Hill Climb. I assume that this robot will be doing its thing during that race. I look forward to hearing about how well it does.

Re:They can try Mt. Washington Auto Road next

[Andy Dodd]

Sounds like a PERFECT time to unleash an autonomous racing vehicle.

Especially if the goal is AI research. We have chess-playing computers, we need GTA-playing computers.

Re:PP is an exciting road

[smellsofbikes]

I did it once on a motorcycle back in the mid-1980's and then a couple more times on a bicycle in the mid-90's. (Not that it's worth anything to anyone else but I managed to beat a bunch of pro racers in one of the bike races. The only way you can legally bike up PP is during the race, since it's closed to bicycles the rest of the year.)

It might not just be economics: there is an enormous amount of environmental damage done by maintaining a high-altitude, high-traffic dirt road. The city of Colorado Springs was complaining about debris, from the hundreds of tons of gravel and fill dumped on the road every year to try and keep it passable, getting into streams that feed into Colorado Springs. I don't think they were part of its water source, but they do flow down into the city.

Re:Audi?!

[MechaStreisand]

You let the engine destroy itself rather than turning off the ignition? Interesting choice.