Autonomous Audi TTS Takes Driving Out of the Equation [with Video and Photos]

This here is the Autonomous Audi TTS, a research model for a car that does away with the driver altogether in order to explore the best capabilities of current and future driver assistance technologies. The prototype car is the collaborative work of the Volkswagen Group Electronics Research Laboratory (ERL), the Stanford University Dynamics Design Lab (SDDL) and Sun Microsystems.

Nicknamed after Michelle Mouton, one of the most successful female rally drivers ever, the Autonomous TTS is equipped with a fully automated drive-by-wire system that controls the steering, throttle, brakes, gearbox and parking brake as well as a special GPS system to help communicate with the piloting software developed by the researches over at Standford University.

The software package is what enables the vehicle to drive at the limits of handling in various speeds and conditions on a range of surfaces.

While Audi doesn't intend to use the Autonomous TTS to completely substitute the driver (or at least we hope it doesn't...), the company says that the technology found in the car could help dramatically reduce the number of fatalities worldwide by intervening in hazardous situations as well as to take over routine driving tasks such as parking the car in an assigned spot in a garage.

The prototype model is still in the testing phase but if all goes well, Audi is considering a run up at Colorado's famous Pikes Peak to replicate the 12.4-mile Pikes Peak International Hill Climb sometime in the first quarter of 2010.