Description:
The Audi TT is a versatile vehicle, however many would never have considered that the Audi TT we all know and love is playing a pivotal role on research and development for future driverless vehicles. The Center for Automotive Research at Stanford (otherwise known as CARS) have developed remote controlled vehicles based on the Audi TT before, however their latest version (Audi TTS affectionately known as "Shelley") are going to attempt to send the vehicle around the rally-track like Pikes Peak area, without a driver at the wheel and a breakneck speeds.
The 12.4 mile road that the Audi TT will traverse is a combination of paved and gravel and features 156 turns and a climb of almost 5,000 feet over its duration. Human drivers are planning to tackle the challenge in June (2010) however the Audi TT known as Shelley will attempt the race in September in order to compare the driverless time against standard times. "Our first goal is to go up Pikes Peak at
speeds resembling race speeds, keep the car stable around the corners
and have everything work the way we want it to. We're not going to put it on the mountain until we can do it safely" commented Chris Gerdes,
program director of CARS and leader of the graduate research team.
The Audi TT known as Shelley is special due to the sophistication of computer and GPS equipment loaded into the boot. This is not the first time that driverless cars have made it up Pikes Peak, however they have previously only done so at 25mph whilst the team at CARS want Shelley to fly up the track at rally-like speeds. This new Audi TT is unique because it will follow a GPS trail from start to finish, previous iterations of robotic Audi TT that have been developed by CARS have sensed the path ahead with doppler radar and cameras. The team feel it is a completely achievable goal considering that the Shelley Audi TT has already reached 130 mph with ease, without a driver at the wheel on the Utah Salt Flats.
The Audi TT takes information from a variety of sources such as GPS, accelerometers, speedometers, wheel speed sensors and gyroscopes. Gerdes explained, "The computer puts all this information
together and then compares it to a digital map to figure out how close
the car is to the path that we want it to take up Pikes Peak. 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. In addition to high-tech racing, the team is
hopeful that its research may lead to safer cars that respond to human
error. We hope this project demonstrates that the technologies of
stabilizing the car and helping the car stay in its lane will work with
each other all the way up to the very limits of the vehicle." | 