Xiaomi hits 130 MPH on the Nürburgring without a Driver

[00:00:00]Here is a driving record at the Nürburgring that you have not seen before. Xiaomi is now the autonomous driving record holder for the Green Hell. That's right. Look ma, no driver.

[00:00:11]A couple of observations and then I'll just let the video go. Last month they took their all-new 990 horsepower U7 GT and set the record for a production SUV, beating the bi-turbo V8 powered Audi RS Q8, taking about 7 minutes and 23 seconds in the hands of a professional driver. Now they've taken that same model vehicle and let it drive itself.

[00:00:37]It took a little over 3 minutes longer to get around the track, but still reaching speeds up to 210 km/h.

[00:00:46]That's about 130 mph. When you look at the video, it's fair to say that many human drivers without racing experience wouldn't have been able to do any better. On the outside you can see that the standard Xiaomi Pilot system that utilizes cameras, radar, and one lidar sensor has been augmented with diversity GNSS antenna. Having two antenna increases the precision of the satellite geolocation. During the driving you can see that there is no human in either of the front seats, so no human can also be seen in the rear seat, although maybe someone was there, it's hard to say. You can hear some noises that are assumed just, you know, camera wires and the normal creaking of the body. There definitely is a vehicle trailing the U7.

[00:01:34]You can see a silver or white car at times in the side view mirrors, likely with a kill switch just in case something goes wrong. Xiaomi vehicles use their HAD technology, hyper autonomous driving. It must have been retuned for this track run, and I say that because the vehicle does not stay in the middle of the road, nor does it hug the right side, thinking that maybe it's on a two-way street. It runs the track like a race car driver would, roughly hitting the apex of the turns and putting the vehicle on the side of the road to set it up for the next turn.

[00:02:10]The reprogrammed system also appears to set limits for top speed at different parts of the track. There definitely times where it will go no faster than 140 km/h. Other parts of the track where it tops out at 150, that's 93 mph, and on the back straightaway, which is called the Döttinger Höhe, it maxes out at 210 km/h or 130 mph. The U7 GT has a top speed 50 mph faster than that, so clearly it's being limited by the system. At the 7 minute 45 second mark, a warning sound, you can hear it beep, and a message appears on the center display. I wasn't able to read the display, but my guess is that it's a brake temperature warning. High performance vehicles have this feature, and other videos of EVs on the track demonstrate this warning, too, but that's just a guess. Overall, cool demonstration of electric power and self-driving technology. Is it staged?

[00:03:13]Sure, of course it is. And I'm kind of surprised the Germans allowed them to even do this, and more importantly, I wonder who's going to challenge this record next. Enjoy the video.

[00:07:44]>> Excuse me.

[00:09:39]>> Mhm.

[00:11:49]>> Mhm.