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Xiaomi has returned to the Nürburgring once again to set another lap record. This time, the company achieved the feat with no driver at all in the YU7 GT, recording the first official time for an autonomous run on the world-famous track.
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The Nürburgring is one of the most famous and challenging race tracks in the world. It is over 12 km long, and the route includes both high-speed and slow turns, various types of road surfaces, as well as numerous bumps and elevation changes. That is why the track is often used to compare car performance and set prestigious records.
For many years, electric vehicle manufacturers have been competing for the best result on this track. NIO, Porsche, Tesla, and other companies have participated in the race for records. But recently, Xiaomi has surged to the lead.
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When the company unveiled the high-performance version of its SU7 Ultra sports sedan, the car headed to the Nürburgring and set a record as the fastest four-door car in history. However, at that time, the company used a lightweight prototype. Xiaomi later improved on this result, trailing only three specially built race cars.
Later, the company returned to the track with a production version of the car – without any weight-reduction modifications – and set a record among production electric vehicles. After that, Xiaomi brought the YU7 GT to the track, which set an absolute record among SUVs, outperforming all gasoline and electric counterparts with a time of 7 minutes and 22.755 seconds. However, the company didn’t stop there and announced another record for the YU7 GT – the first officially recorded fastest unmanned lap at the Nürburgring. The result was 10 minutes and 29.483 seconds.
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Of course, this time lags significantly behind the records set with drivers behind the wheel. A gap of approximately 3 minutes is very substantial, even for such a long track. In racing, results are often decided by seconds, and a time exceeding 10 minutes and 30 seconds is typical for much slower vehicles. But this is still an important achievement, because any progress begins with the first step. Xiaomi also acknowledged this, calling the record a starting point rather than an end goal.
As seen in the video, the car handles confidently, though it does not push the tires or cornering lines to their limits. At the same time, on the longest straight section of the track, it reached a speed of 210 km/h, which is a pretty good result.
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It is unknown exactly which autonomous system the YU7 GT used. The car’s standard system is designed for use on public roads and is not intended for speeds of 210 km/h or for cornering at such speeds. Therefore, it can be assumed that special software was developed for the record-breaking run.
Although this is the first official autonomous lap at the Nürburgring, attempts to create autonomous races have been made before. Ten years ago, Formula E announced the launch of a support series called Roborace, in which teams were to compete against each other in autonomous race cars. Other autonomous racing series primarily bring together student teams. These include the Indy Autonomous Challenge and Formula Student Driverless. In such competitions, less attention is typically paid to absolute lap times, and more focus is placed on performing complex tasks, such as safely passing a vehicle traveling at a constant speed.
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