The Xiaomi YU7 GT has become the first vehicle to set an official autonomous lap record at Germany’s famous Nürburgring Nordschleife race track.

The self-driving Chinese electric vehicle went around the 20.8-kilometre circuit in a time of 10:29:483 minutes.

In terms of pace, that’s not particularly quick when compared to human-driven performance cars at the track.

The same Xiaomi YU7 GT, by the way, holds Nürburgring’s SUV lap record, which was set earlier this year with driver Vincent Radermecker behind the wheel. He managed a time of 7:22:755 minutes.

Radermecker went around the track more than three minutes quicker than what the same vehicle managed autonomously.

But, the record marks a significant achievement in vehicular technology and offers a glimpse of what the future of mobility looks like.

If you watch the video, you’ll see the vehicle must have had its max speed set to 150 km/h, or it might have set a quicker time. The EV follows the racing lines into and out of corners smoothly and without issue. Probably it could have been allowed to go faster and it would have managed the track just fine.

The Nordschleife, one of two tracks at Nürburgring, is referred to as “the Green Hell.” The 20.832-kilometre circuit is considered the gold standard for testing vehicle performance due to its demanding layout.

It features 73 corners, more than 300 metres of elevation changes and a narrow track width.

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