Behold, The First Driverless Corvette Burnout
All smoke, no mirrors. This thing’s for real.
Earlier this year, corporate brass from the performance divisions of Dodge, Ford and Chevy all gathered at Duggan’s Irish Pub, just outside Detroit. During the meeting (aptly called “Horsepower Wars”), Corvette chief engineer Tadge Juechter addressed self-driving vehicles.
“We probably as a group will be the last to adopt autonomous technology,” he said. “The whole purpose of our cars is to enjoy the driving experience, not to check out your email while you’re moving from one place to the other.”
Little did he know, a driverless Corvette was already in the works.
Here’s the result: a full-scale, remote-controlled C6. Its creator, a guy from the Netherlands named B.J., knows a thing or two about fooling around with electronics. So, using a 2.4GHz, six-channel transmitter, he converted the car’s braking, shifting, ignition, throttle and steering to answer via custom universal controller. After running a quick in-car test, B.J. hops out and takes the C6 for its maiden driverless parking lot jaunt. Burnouts and donuts ensue. Because B.J., besides being an exceptionally cunning backyard engineer, is a damn hero.
