March 12th, 2010

Shelley, the first female autonomous car

You see Shelley is an Audi TTS. Researchers at the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford built Shelley to drive autonomously. She has a built in GPS that allows her to navigate without a driver and she has reached speeds of 130 mph.

Shelley will attempt the famous Pikes Peak course in September, the official Pikes Peak Hill Climb is in June of this year. They named the car Shelley in honor of Michele Mouton, one of the best rally drivers ever and the first female driver to win Pikes Peak.

The Stanford researchers have built two autonomous cars before, Stanley and Junior, but only used radar and cameras to navigate whereas Shelley will use GPS. Pikes Peak began in Colorado 1916 and is a climb up 14,000 feet.

The Stanford Report writes, “The trick will be to stay on the road at race speeds while sliding around the corners.” Well, that’s pretty much the trick for human drivers as well. Good luck Shelley!