Audi has tested a number of autonomous cars at the race track. There was Shelley, a TTS it built with the Revs program at Stanford. And a pair of autonomous RS7s have given demos and passenger rides at Hockenheim in Germany and Sonoma Raceway in the US. (credit: Audi)
Taking a vehicle to the race track to improve it has been a thing almost as long as we've had cars. Henry Ford built his brand's name on his early racing exploits, and so have countless others. So it's natural that some of the people interested in self-driving cars have been thinking about how the track can benefit this new technology. Joshua Schachter is one such person, and he's organizing the first autonomous track day, to be held on May 28th-29th at Thunderhill Raceway in Willow, California.
Self-driving cars and racing are two of my favorite things, so I spoke to Schachter to find out more. The idea is to create a venue where you can "run what you brung," whether it's a fully autonomous car (or kart), a set of sensors, or maybe some control software. "If you squint at it, and it's automotive, come try it on the track," he said.
Interest in autonomous race cars is starting to build. Later this year, a series called Roborace will support Formula E in 2016-2017, for example. But Roborace will provide all the teams with identical cars; the job of the teams will be to write algorithms to make their car the fastest on the track.
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