An Audi is to race without a driver on board

An Audi TTS will race in the legendary Pikes Peak Race, without a driver at the helm. That's the ambitious aim of a team of students from Stanford. First efforts on a salt lake have proved successful with the car reaching 210 km/h (135mph). Shelley, the autonomous Audi, gets its name from the best-known and most successful rally ace, Michelle Mouton, who was the first woman to win the Pikes Peak race.

Early next year, Shelley will cover the course with driver, so that software can be programmed with live data. The race proper takes place on 27th June 2010. It won't be easy, as the famous rally circuit snakes its way 20 kilometres up a mountain around 156 turns.