Audi has successfully run an autonomous Audi RS 7 around the Grand Prix track at Hockhenheim at full race pace. Watch the video.

OVERNIGHT, AT THE DTM (German touring cars) season finale, Audi successfully ran its autonomous (piloted) Audi RS 7 around the Grand Prix track in Hockenheim at racing speed and without a driver, or passenger.

If you were one of those who tried to watch the live stream via Audi TV last night (19 October) you’ll have been disappointed as the servers crashed, making it impossible to watch the event live. Scroll down to see a highlight of the lap.

According to a statement by Audi, “It took the Audi RS 7 piloted driving concept just slightly over two minutes to complete a lap on the Grand Prix track in Hockenheim”.

“The top performance by the Audi RS 7 today substantiates the skills of our development team with regard to piloted driving at Audi,” said Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, Board Member for Technical Development at AUDI AG. “The derivations from series production, particularly in terms of precision and performance, are of great value for our further development steps.”

Since missing out on watching the live stream last night, we’ve watched the highlights package and it’s unbelievable. And then, at the end of the lap it even parks itself precisely, and I mean to the centimetre, in P1 on the grid. The lap begins at around 14 minutes – skip forward if you like, but be prepared to be ever so slightly freaked out. Even the commentator finishes by saying, “It’s the wrong thing for a commentator to say but I’m jolly near speechless. That really was something else … didn’t put one foot wrong”.

How’s it work: “For orientation on the track, the technology pioneer uses specially corrected GPS signals. This GPS data is transmitted to the vehicle via WiFi according to the automotive standard and redundantly via high-frequency radio. In parallel to this, 3D cameras in the car film the track, and a computer program compares the cameras’ image information against a data set stored on board. This is what makes it possible for the technology pioneer to orient itself on the track within centimeters,” a statement read.