See the video at eurotuner.com or youtube.com/eurotuner
The Stanford University Dynamic Design Lab (DDL), the Electronics Research Lab (ERL) for the Volkswagen Group in Palo Alto, CA and Oracle Corp have been working on an unmanned vehicle, and video of its early work as well as this new development is online at eurotuner.com or youtube.com/eurotuner
As part of its ongoing development, Audi recently launched its new design for the Autonomous Audi TTS, which will tackle the legendary Pikes Peak hillclimb later this year.
With research surrounding the car entering a crucial stage before high-speed test runs up Pikes Peak in Colorado this autumn, the changed appearance means the Autonomous Audi TTS Pikes Peak is now aligned with former Audi motorsport cars that made history a generation ago in the Pikes Peak Hill Climb and other rally events.
The new emphasis for the project also honors quattro technology, which has played an instrumental role in Audi racing successes and is integral to the handling of the Audi TTS research car. This year marks the 30th anniversary of quattro on the world automotive stage.
The association between Pikes Peak and this research project relates to the original goal of developing advanced algorithms and actuation systems that would allow a car to complete a driving course without a human behind the wheel.
The partners in developing this technology - DDL, ERL and Oracle - chose the part-pavement, part-gravel route of the Pikes Peak race to prove the project's capabilities.
"Our aim from the start has been to show how the future of driver assistance technologies will lead to dramatic improvements in traffic safety and saving lives," said Dr.Burkhard Huhnke, Executive Director, ERL. "With this project we are working on electronics that will help drivers steer their way out of dangerous situations. But first we need to create programs that would replicate the quick decisions and rapid maneuvers of the best rally racers under the most difficult road conditions."
The connection with rallying provided another inspiration to the team.?"Many of the leading automotive technologies we see today evolved from motorsport," said mechanical engineering Associate Professor Chris Gerdes, director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford, in Palo Alto, CA. "This is because racing pushes emerging technologies to the limits before they can be adopted more broadly.
The Autonomous Audi TTS Pikes Peak is based on a street-ready Audi TTS sports car. The team chose the TTS because its native systems, including a drive-by-wire throttle and a semi-automatic DSG gearbox were a good fit with the electronics that allow the car to drive without human input.
The computing hardware added to the TTS research car isn't significantly more elaborate than what can be found in a standard laptop. The car currently uses two computers in its trunk - one running safety critical algorithms using Oracle's Real Time Java (Java RTS). The other runs vehicle dynamics algorithms. The two sets of algorithms are what enable the TTS to drive at the limits of handling on a variety of surfaces, speeds and conditions.
The differential GPS system is capable of keeping the TTS within 20mm of the center line of a normal course; researchers are planning on a one-meter margin on Pikes Peak due to the extreme conditions.