A few months after setting an electric vehicle lap
record at the Nurburgring, the NextEV NIO EP9 has become the fastest
self-driving vehicle to ever lap the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Texas.
The EP9 also lapped the circuit faster than any other production
car when a driver jumped behind the wheel.
To showcase its advanced autonomous technologies,
NIO sent the EP9 around the Formula One circuit in just 2 minutes and 40.33
seconds where a 257 km/h top speed was reached along the straight.
When a professional driver took control, he set a lap time of 2 min 11.30 sec
and reached 273 km/h.
Aiding in these impressive lap times is the
vehicle’s incredible powertrain. It utilizes four high-performance inboard motors
and four individual gearboxes to deliver a total of 1360 PS,
equivalent to one megawatt of power. This allows the EP9 to accelerate from a
standstill to 200 km/h in a mere 7.1 seconds and onto a 312
km/h top speed.
NIO has yet to announce when the first customer
deliveries of the EP9 will commence.
