Xiaomi’s YU7 GT completed a driverless Nurburgring lap, but it was over three minutes slower than the human run.
The 10-minute lap shows autonomy can survive the Nordschleife, but not yet attack it like a pro driver.
Xiaomi’s run is impressive, but the closed-track setup leaves big questions about how autonomous it really was.
Driverless laps of racetracks are nothing new. A lap of the Nurburgring Nordschleife with nobody behind the wheel is different just because of how much longer and more challenging this track is.
Xiaomi says its YU7 GT electric high-rider completed a fully autonomous lap of the nearly 13-mile (21-kilometer) German circuit in 10:29.483. That is not quick by Nurburgring standards, or even by YU7 GT standards. But it is still strange and impressive seeing nobody behind the wheel.
