Xiaomi YU7 GT achieves world’s first autonomous lap record at the Nürburgring – timed at 10:29.483 minutes

The Xiaomi YU7 GT returned to the Nürburgring to set another record after already claiming the title for the fastest SUV around the Green Hell. This time, the electric SUV completed a lap without a human driver in control at all to set world’s first (and only) autonomous lap record around the famous 20.8-km track.

Crossing the line at a leisurely 10:29.483 minutes, the self-driving YU7 GT (also equipped with the Track Package but with additional sensors for autonomy) was a lot more conservative than its human-driven equivalent during its attempt. The onboard video showed the autonomous vehicle carrying a top speed of 210 km/h on the fastest parts of the Nürburgring instead of 299 km/h when a human did the driving.

Additionally, the autonomous car missed pretty much every apex on the track, while also braking earlier and accelerating gentler. Put simply, there’s a lot of potential on tap that isn’t used here. With two electric motors churning out 1,003 PS (990 hp or 738 kW) and 1,068 Nm of torque, air suspension with dual-valve adaptive damper, an electronic rear limited-slip differential and Akebono carbon ceramic brakes with six-piston front callipers, the YU7 GT is capable of a lot.

Of course, an autonomous YU7 GT on the Nürburgring wasn’t expected to set a blistering lap time. Instead, this is a technological exercise to showcase Xiaomi’s self-driving know-how, and the onboard showed that at no point did the car appear to struggle when dealing with tight turns or elevation changes.

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