130mph up Pike’s Peak with one control: a kill switch
The Stanford Racing Team is no stranger to autonomous racing – their two previous VAG cars taking first and second in the Mojave Desert Grand Challenge respectively. But unlike their previous challenges, their new car is aiming for race-like speeds up Pike’s Peak – something that’s never been done before with an autonomous car.
The latest vehicle, an Audi TT coupe, is nicknamed Shelley, after Michèle Mouton, the first woman driver to win the climb. Unlike its predecessors, which “read” their surroundings using radar, lidar, and cameras, Shelley will follow a Global Positioning System (GPS) trail.
The autonomous car uses a somewhat different GPS system than your car’s satellite navigation, though. This one corrects for atmospheric interference, positioning the car on the surface of the planet to within about an inch. The computer system that operates Shelley compares the positioning information to the car’s speed and acceleration, plus inputs from gyroscopic sensors that provide equilibrium and directional data. Then it compares that to the map to figure out if the car is on course.
The Volkswagen Automotive Innovation Laboratory, or VAIL, is a partner in developing Shelley. The lab studies how new technologies can help human drivers react better to safety challenges. It also looks at whether autonomous features could reduce the load on drivers. [Via The Car Connection]
Other autonomous cars have crossed the finish line of the Rocky Mountain road, but only at about 25 miles per hour. The 12.4-mile paved and gravel track has 156 turns and a climb of 4,720 feet. An official contest for human drivers will take place in June this year, but Shelley will attempt a timed race in September, when she can get the track to herself.
“Our goal is to show that we can do this,” Gerdes said. “There are some sheer drops at Pikes Peak in which any sort of self-preservation kicks in and you slow down a bit. We want to go up at the speed that few normal drivers would ever think of attempting.” [Via Stanford News]
The Center for Automotive Research at Stanford (CARS) is backed by Volkswagen, Bosch, Honda, Toyota and Nissan.
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