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Autonomous TTS coupe to compete at 2010 Pikes Peak – driver not included.

A remote control car that can drive itself will take part in one of the world’s most challenging – and treacherous – motor races.

Using advanced electronics and a sophisticated internet link the driverless Audi TT is set to compete as a technological showcase in motorsport races next year, including America’s renowned Pikes Peak Hill Climb.

The Autonomous Audi is currently controlled by a computer fitted inside its boot, and from 2010 will run using Java real-time programming updates received via telemetry from up to 32km away.

The German car maker says the aim is for such cars to communicate with a network aerial towers – to send and receive telemetry signals – in a similar manner to mobile phone aerials.

Audi, however, is pre-empting a backlash from motorists by stressing that the Autonomous Audi TTS Coupe is not designed to dispense with drivers in the future.

It says the vehicle “is intended to explore the best capabilities of current and future driver assistance technologies to help Audi enhance the experience behind the steering wheel for future driver generations”.

The executive director of Audi parent company Volkswagen’s Electronics Research Laboratory, which is working on the project in tandem with the US’s Stanford University, says the Autonomous TTS’s technology could help to give motorists the reflexes of a skilled motorsport driver to avoid accidents.

“We believe that developing a car that can perform as well and respond as rapidly as a professional driver, like a race or rally driver, will eventually be able to drive its way around incidents in a way that a ‘normal’ driver couldn’t.

“While a less experienced driver may freeze or make the wrong ‘correction’, the Autonomous TTS would be able to take over or guide the driver to escape from a critical situation. It could also compensate if a driver is inattentive to conditions or distracted, but of course it won’t prevent all accidents.”

The Autonomous TT is based on the TTS coupe that is powered by a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine.

STEVE COLQUHOUN

Holden says it is in the box seat to supply up to 70,000 police cars a year to the United States.

Holden is in the box seat to lock up lucrative contracts to supply up to 70,000 cars per year to United States police departments following “huge” interest in its long-wheelbase police car.

A prototype of the Holden Caprice V8 fitted with standard police equipment has been well received by police departments and police fleet buyers across the US and Canada, according to Chevrolet, the General Motors brand that will market the car in the US.

Mike Simcoe, the Australian-born former head of Holden’s design department and now Chevrolet’s design chief, said the car was being aggressively marketed to police departments and state authorities looking to update their police fleets.

“It was shown at a very big rally and they had about 150 police departments there. I don’t know how many people drove the car but there was huge interest,” Mr Simcoe said.

Ford’s Crown Victoria sedan, the car of choice for decades for most US police departments, will be retired at the end of 2011. While large, powerful rear-wheel-drive vehicles continue to suffer declining private and fleet sales, they remain very much in demand for use as police patrol cars and pursuit vehicles.

“I imagine there would be a lot of interest in the (police) contracts from manufacturers with a large, V8-powered car; but there aren’t too many of those around,” Mr Simcoe said. “The competition has been the Ford Crown (Victoria) and that architecture is going out of manufacture so they may not have an alternative.”

Ford global marketing vice-president Jim Farley said the company would offer up a replacement for the Crown Victoria “within the next 12 months”. Ford says it has been working with law enforcement agencies on the new police car, dubbed the Interceptor, for the past 14 months. The Blue Oval currently supplies roughly 75 per cent of the country’s police cars.

But with no replacement yet available, the Blue Oval has give a significant head start to Holden and its GM counterpart, Chevrolet, which is marketing the car as the Chevrolet Caprice PPV (police pursuit vehicle). Chevrolet is milking the opportunity by aggressively marketing the prototype and offering test-drives at car shows and police events.

Mr Simcoe said Holden was the logical fit within General Motors’ stable of brands to build a police car based on the Caprice, Holden’s range-topping luxury model.

“Holden is the affordable rear-wheel-drive architecture. We have other performance architectures but they are targeted at Cadillac and above,” he said.

A prototype fitted with police equipment including flashing lights, dispatch displays, a heavy-duty screen through the middle of the cabin and storage for police-issue guns and equipment is being show at this week’s Los Angeles motor show.

Chevrolet says it can customise the Caprice PPV to meet individual police departments’ needs, with options including a heavy-duty battery and high-output alternator to support the electric and computer equipment fitted to the car, seats contoured to fit officers wearing equipment belts that allow quick entrance and exits, specially calibrated stability control, a touch screen dispatch unit that doesn’t interfere with airbag deployment and a full-width rear seat barrier.

RICHARD BLACKBURN

Sales are up 20 per cent, but car buyers flocked to thirsty four-wheel-drives in November, while sales of city runabouts fell away.

New car buyers appear oblivious to climate change concerns, with the latest sales figures showing people are flocking back to fuel-guzzling four-wheel-drives.

In yet another sign the economy is surging ahead, the new-car market rebounded strongly in November, with sales up by more than 20 per cent as small businesses took advantage of tax breaks on vehicle purchases, which end on December 31.

But while the growth in new car sales was remarkable, the real story was the type of vehicles being sold. While sales of the smallest cars on the market fell in November, four-wheel-drives and utes enjoyed a sales bonanza.

The Toyota HiLux utility was the best selling vehicle in the country, outselling the Holden Commodore, while sales of 4WD-style SUVs were up a staggering 44 per cent.

Toyota’s smallest car, the Yaris, saw sales slump by 20 per cent, while the company’s thirstiest vehicle, the LandCruiser, recorded a 35 per cent jump.

Sales of the petrol-electric Prius also dropped, despite the recent arrival of an all-new model.

The popularity of SUVs is strongest at the top of the market, with sales of luxury SUVs up by 75 per cent in November.

The segment is the only one to record growth in 2009. But the chief executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, Andrew McKellar, rejects claims motorists are returning to their bad old ways.

“The industry as a whole is moving towards more fuel-efficient vehicles. Today’s SUVs are more fuel-efficient than they were years ago and that will continue. With each new model we are seeing very significant moves to enhance fuel economy and reduce emissions, he said.

The figures simply reflect the types of vehicles people are looking for in terms of their lifestyle requirements, he said. I don’t think it reflect s a lack of concern or focus on the environment by the motoring public, he said.

McKellar said the rebound in sales figures was evidence that the Government’s stimulus package had worked, although he admitted that the increase was against a horror month in 2008. The sales figures were still lower than November 2007.

It is an exceptionally strong month and it has undoubtedly been spurred by the impact of the tax break, he said.

And he predicted sales would continue to remain strong heading into the New Year, with many dealers struggling to cope with the demand created by the tax breaks.

We expect some positive carry over into the early months of next year, given that brands are struggling to keep up with demand, he said.

The reduction in the tariff on imported vehicles from 10 per cent to five per cent would also stimulate demand in the New Year. But McKellar warned that further interest rate hikes had the potential to derail the recovery in the new car market.

He said moves by the banks to lift rates above the official level were totally unjustified and counter-productive.

The local car industry didn’t fare as well as the imports, with sales of locally-built vehicles increasing at roughly half the rate of the total market. Sales of the Holden Commodore fell by 10 per cent, while Toyota’s Aurion dipped by 11 per cent.

Those declines were offset by strong sales month for the Ford Falcon and Territory and Toyota’s Camry. The home grown utes had spectacular months, with the Falcon ute doubling its sales and the Holden ute also recording big growth.

Toyota continues to dominate the market, selling almost as many vehicles as Ford and Holden combined. Value brand Hyundai continues to benefit from bargain-hunting buyers, with sales up 40 per cent for the year.