Self-driving Audi RS7 aims for 149 mph in driver-free race lap

For all the attention that Google has garnered with its push for self-driving cars, it's actually the auto industry — and arguably Audi in particular — that has made the most progress in the past year on the technology. Audi has been tinkering with various levels of automated vehicles for years, and just a few months ago became the first automaker to receive a California license for self-driving vehicle testing.

This weekend, Audi will attempt to show just how far it's technology has come by putting a modified Audi RS7 sedan through a one-lap, top-speed test around a German race track without input from a driver. Its testing suggests the 560-hp screamer will hit 149 mph — setting a new speed record for a car that doesn't need a human touching the wheel.

According to Audi, going around a race track at speed requires far more processing power and sensor input than a self-driving machine would face in everyday traffic. For starters, the GPS positioning that such vehicles use for roads isn't accurate enough for track use; Audi had to set up a corrected GPS system, beaming data to the car wirelessly, that's accurate to the nearest centimeter. The car also needed to be able to see where it was on the track, so Audi engineers built a 3D camera system that compares its line of sight with a stored scan of the track and its surroundings.

After several thousand miles of testing, Audi will put the RS7 on the Hockenheim track during the final races of the German DTM series this weekend, in front of several thousand spectators. Using full throttle and braking, It expects the RS7 to complete a lap in 2 minutes, 10 seconds — or roughly what a human driver would be able to accomplish in the same vehicle. Going full speed around a track isn't the most sensible use of a self-driving car, but if successful, Audi will be many laps ahead toward getting one on the road for real.