Audi's self-driving car takes to Sonoma Raceway

Audi, which last year took to Germany's Hockenheimring in a self-driving car, is at it again, this time lapping Sonoma Raceway in California using driverless technology.

The RS 7 piloted driving concept recently hit the course north of San Francisco and returned impressive lap times, with Audi claiming the car turned in a recorded time of 2:01.01 around the four-kilometre track.

"In Sonoma, we took the Audi RS 7 piloted driving concept to its physical limits lap after lap, and it handled the task with uniform precision," Thomas Müller, who is responsible for the development of brake, steering and driver assistance systems at Audi, said in a statement. "The car turned in lap times that were better than those of sports car drivers."

By comparison, Ryan Briscoe set an IndyCar qualifying record at the track in 2005 of 1:16.491.

Audi said its self-driving technology will be available in the next generation A8.