VIDEO: VW's autonomous 53+1 kicking ass on autocross course
Autocrossers beware! You may remember the Volkswagen GTI 53+1 we told you about a year ago. VW engineers have outfitted this Golf with an array of computers and sensors that give the car the ability to traverse autocross courses better than most human drivers could. While the 53+1 isn't as autonomous as a Darpa Urban Challenge entrant, this video shows just exactly how far it can go without your input.
Just like flesh and blood amateur racers, the GTI 53+1 needs to slowly "walk" the course, downloading GPS points to a computer in the trunk. It then takes a few moments to analyze the course route and devise the fastest line possible. Back between the cones, the car zips through the tight curves with amazing dexterity.
The video says the car was not developed to promote future autonomous VWs (Stanford's got that covered), but instead as a way to test the company's hardware without a human driver. Eliminating a driver insures every test will be performed exactly as the one before and give consistent results each time.
The Daily Mail covered the story in 2006 and spoke to a VW engineer who said, "We called it '53' because it is reminiscent of the cinematic Volkswagen bug Herbie, which made history as the first self-driving Volkswagen. This time we've done it for real." Here's hoping this doesn't encourage another Love Bug sequel.
So, wanna see it? Follow the jump for the vid!
[Sources: Street Fire Video, Daily Mail]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mcheddadi 7:43PM (5/17/2007)
the background music is awful...
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Sean Flanagan 8:29PM (5/17/2007)
All I want is for that woman to shut the hell up. There's not a single engine note or tire squeal in the entire video! Lame.
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FC RX7 Driver 10:58PM (5/17/2007)
Now move a section of cones over a foot and watch the carnage.... While this is pretty cool it can't compensate for changes in the course like a human. A human will still be faster if both a human and the computer tackled a course blind, without a prior walk around. Still very cool though, I'd like to race it.
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Lee Roy Brandon III 12:29AM (5/18/2007)
I for one welcome our new autonomous autocrossing overlords.
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John R 7:07AM (5/18/2007)
KITT!! I need ya!
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GW 8:41AM (5/18/2007)
Can I order mine through Dell?
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epilonious 9:06AM (5/18/2007)
I attribute this GTI's finesse to that of Northrup Grummans B2 bomber: Without a massively complex computer system, it handles like a brick in honey... and if it were an airplane, it would plummet from the sky.
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Rick Lyon 10:16AM (5/18/2007)
So this car will be engineered to run and perform perfectly for a robot? I don't understand why you don't want human data when a human will be driving it and operating it differently? A human will be able to give more accurate 'feel' input than a computer.
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Billy 11:22AM (5/18/2007)
Epilonious, can you back up what you said?
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Andreas 11:40AM (5/18/2007)
This is a better clip of the car, in my opinion (from Fifth Gear): http://youtube.com/watch?v=CjzQxIXh2DI
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Ken 11:40AM (5/18/2007)
RickLyon, they still need human testers for the tactile development, but when comparing parts, you want each run to be exactly alike. I'd like to see them take this to the Nurburgring, do a walk through lap, then let it race Sabine Schmidz or some other experienced driver around the ring, although I'm not so sure I'd want to be racing a car that will take the ideal line whether it crosses your path or not.
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epilonious 7:55PM (5/18/2007)
Billy,
Of the current gen FF compact hot hatches (Civic Si, Mazdaspeed3), the GTI is pretty much the heaviest and fattest with the worst power to weight ratio. The Golf/GTI has gotten bigger every generation. While it has a nice interior... the entire point of the article is "wow, when you load this thing up with enough computer tech to compensate/anticipate all the mush and deal with its plentiful limits, it gets surprising track times, something not expected of such a mushy heavy-mobile".
This whole thing reminds me of how Grumman's flying wing design was finally validated only after an avionics system became complex enough to compensate for all the ways an airfoil acts when it doesn't have vertical stabilizers.
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