Xiaomi's YU7 GT laps the Nurburgring with no driver: a warning shot to Audi and Mercedes
Xiaomi's YU7 GT with Track Package has become the first vehicle to complete a Nurburgring lap with no human driver on board, finishing the 20.8km circuit in 10 minutes 29.483 seconds. The autonomous run follows the same car's production SUV lap record set in May 2026.
What was announced
The Xiaomi YU7 GT, fitted with the Track Package, ran the full 20.8km Nordschleife layout without any human input, recording 10 minutes and 29.483 seconds. Xiaomi says the car negotiated all 73 corners, roughly 300 metres of elevation change, and varying surface grip with no driver intervention. The onboard autonomous system handled steering, braking and power delivery in real time, monitoring vehicle behaviour continuously to keep the SUV stable through the lap.
A Chinese phone-maker just sent a production SUV around the Nurburgring with nobody inside. The German technology premium no longer exists.
This is the slowest of three Xiaomi runs at the Ring, but it is the first done driverless on a production-bodied car. In May 2026, the same YU7 GT set a production SUV lap record of 7 minutes 34.93 seconds, beating the Audi RS Q8 Performance by 1.76 seconds. Last year, a Xiaomi SU7 Ultra prototype lapped in 6 minutes 22.09 seconds, seven seconds clear of the Mercedes-AMG One.
Mechanically, the YU7 GT runs a dual-motor setup producing 1,003hp, fed by a 101kWh battery pack. The Track Package adds the hardware needed for sustained high-speed running at the Ring, including upgraded brakes and cooling. Xiaomi has not announced plans to sell the YU7 GT in India, and the brand has no passenger-car retail presence here. The car remains a China-market performance halo for now, with the Nurburgring effort positioned as a software and engineering showcase rather than a sales pitch.
The Car Jury verdict
Forget the lap time itself, which is sedate. The headline is that a Chinese EV brand pointed a 1,003hp SUV at the Nordschleife, took the driver out, and let it negotiate 73 corners on its own. Five years ago that was an Audi or Mercedes science project. Today it is a Xiaomi press release.
As Biturbo Media puts it, "India is definitely a big car market, but the luxury car market is quite small in India, and even there, the German trio of Mercedes, BMW, and Audi have been ruling the roost." That moat is shrinking globally, and Indian buyers eyeing an Audi Q5 or Mercedes GLC should note who is now setting the engineering pace. The Germans still own showroom desire in India. The technology lead they used to charge a premium for is gone.
