On the face of it, this looks a bit of harmless entertainment from Audi. Give students with skills but nothing much to do the opportunity to win a lot of beer tokens through programming software. Software that will allow a sweet little model Q5 to navigate a mini-town, with points deducted for driving mishaps.
Look closely, there's no driver...
Those in the know (or just fond of some stereotypes) could even have some fun with the challenge. Perhaps the Q5 could follow other model cars around the town just a little too closely. Maybe the messages back from the piloted car to those controlling it could be frustratingly vague and tell them little about what's going on. And can you make autonomous cars understeer? Called 'house!' on your PH lazy Audi type casting yet? Moving on...
So then, the Audi Autonomous Driving Cup. Not coming to a Gran Turismo Novice series near you soon. 10 teams will compete in the Cup on March 25 and 26. Audi has provided every team with an electric 1:8-scale Q5 and a basic software package. Their job is then to 'develop their own software architecture that processes sensor data to interpret the situation and control the car accordingly.' Probably just an all-nighter on March 24 then.
Audi has a competition course for the Cup, which comprises "oncoming and intersecting traffic, tricky parking situations and obstacles that suddenly appear". That's according to Bjorn Giesler, one of the competition organisers. And it's more than just little errors that will be penalised. "Points are deducted for accidents, lost time and imprecise execution," he says, somewhat menacingly. First prize for the most precise executioner of the autonomous automotive craft wins 10,000 euros, second gets 5,000 euros and there's 1,000 euros for third place
But all mickey-taking aside, there's a serious side to this. Audi has already invested huge amounts of time and resources into autonomous vehicles (see the RS7 lapping Hockenheim) and is making rapid progress. Now it's recruiting students to help! Giesler again. "The measurement sensors in the models have to work just as precisely as those in their big brothers. We are excited to see the innovative solutions the students come up with." Note (probably) non-ironic use of 'big brothers' there. No doubt any innovative solutions can be incorporated into Audi's own understanding if desired as well. And possibly coming to a rear bumper a bit too close to you soon. [Enough already! - Ed.]