Next week, I will be going down* to the Mile High City for the Denver Auto Show and to meet with some EV friends in the Denver area for interviews, photo ops, and whatnot.  One of them will be driving Pike’s Peak this year on her motorcycle.  Also planning to do the Pike’s Peak challenge this year is Audi.

In an unmanned, robotic car.

At speed.

The road to the top of Pike’s is about 12-1/2 miles long, has 156 turns, and is nearly all death-defying roadway with sheer dropoffs.  The lunatics who take their cars (and motorcycles) up this road do so at speeds up to 130mph.  Were I to decide to make this journey at that speed, I think I’d go with the Audi plan.

A robotic car.

Then I could just sit back, watch the viewscreen, and be happy that if the car goes over the edge, I’m not in it.

Robotic cars aren’t new to Pike’s Peak, it being the ultimate testing ground for how well these systems interact with real-world scenarios.  The Audi TTS Robot, however, will be doing it at 130mph, not the usual sub-25mph of most test vehicles.

Audi is doing this to prove a point about German engineering: Deutsch Regeln der Technik.

Actually, they’re doing it to test some new systems that will, in the future, likely help prevent accidents, make driving easier and safer, and so forth.  Wired covered it in full and you can read that by clicking here.  They’ve also got video.

*I say “down” because at 5,281ft, Denver is actually lower than my house, which is at 5,490ft.  :P

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.