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Lamborghini could be sold or spun off from the Volkswagen Group

Volkswagen is reportedly considering a sale or stock listing for its high-end Lamborghini brand. The German automaker is looking to fold the Italian supercar brand into a separate legal entity, reports Bloomberg, which cites "people familiar with the matter" who don't want to be identified "because the deliberations are confidential and no decisions have been made." Any of this sound familiar? The goal of spinning off Lamborghini would be to stockpile more cash and other resources for VW's massive planned push into electric vehicles. Back in March, reports circulated that Volkswagen's "Vision 2030" corporate plan might include plans to focus on the brand's core brands — VW, Audi and Porsche. That means the futures of fringe players like Lamborghini, Bentley, Bugatti, motorcycle brand Ducati and design firm Italdesign (and note this isn't a comprehensive list of brand's under the expansive VW Group umbrella) are up in the air. VW, according to the report, is targeting a market value of $220 billion, which is a big jump from the brand's current $89 billion valuation. Bloomberg pegged Lamborghini's valuation at around $11 billion back in August, buoyed by sales and profits generated by the introduction of the Urus sport utility vehicle. On the flip side, Lamborghini is currently grappling with how best to update its supercar lineup in the face of ever-increasing emissions regulations.

Porsche wins the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans

The question going into this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans was whether or not the Porsche 919 Hybrid would be able to combine its qualifying pace with race reliability. After battling neck-and-neck with Audi's R18 for most of the race, the answer is a resounding yes. Not only did Porsche drivers climb the first two spots on the podium, they did so without any major mishaps on track. This win is the first overall trophy for Porsche since 1998. Audi previously won the last five races, and 13 of the last 15. Corvette also returned to the winner's circle, with the No. 64 C7.R taking winning the GTE Pro division. The victory is the first class win for Corvette since 2011. KCMG won the LMP2 class in ninth overall. With 45 minutes to go the No. 98 Aston Martin crashed out of first place in GTE Amateur, giving the class win to SMP Racing's Ferrari and second place to the Patrick Dempsey Racing Porsche 911 RSR. For the full list of official results, click here. The GTE Pro class proved to be just as exciting as the P1 class, with a four-way battle for first after four hours into the race. For most of the race, the battle at the top went back and forth between the two German manufacturers. An tire puncture in the No. 7 Audi gave up the lead to Porsche, and moments later a crash forced the No. 8 into the garage. But a three-minute replacement of the front and rear bodywork kept the Audi in contention. As the race wore into the night, Porsche maintained a slightly faster pace than Audi. Nick Tandy took the lead on Lap 253 early Sunday morning, and car No. 19 never gave up the top position. The win is the first for all three drivers of the No. 19 – Nico Hulkenberg, Earl Bamber, and Nick Tandy. A lap behind in second was the No. 17 Porsche. The Audis fought reliability problems late in the race but still finished third with the No. 7 R18. The GTE Pro class proved to be just as exciting as the P1 class, with a four-way battle for first after four hours into the race. As the Aston Martin cars dropped away, the lone Corvette Racing entry took over, followed by a charging AF Corse team Ferrari 458 Italia. The Corvette and Ferrari continued to trade places in the final hours until gearbox trouble forced the No. 51 Ferrari out of contention. It was eventually passed by the other AF Corse car, No. 71. Nissan experienced all the pain of a first-year effort with its front-wheel-drive GT-R LM Nismo.

Watch Stanford's self-driving Audi hit the track

Sending a self-driving race car around a track with nobody inside seems pointless – there's no driver to enjoy the ride, and the car certainly isn't getting a thrill out of it. But the students performing research with Stanford University's Audi TTS test rig "Shelley" (not to be confused with Audi's own self-driving race cars) are getting a kick out of the numbers generated by the machine. "A race car driver can use all of a car's functionality to drive fast," says Stanford Professor Chris Gerdes. "We want to access that same functionality to make driving safer." The teams push the car to speeds over 120mph and the computers have executed lap times nearly as fast as professional drivers. However, they also spend a lot of time maneuvering at 50 to 75 mph, the speeds where accidents are most likely to happen. That way, the students can figure out how to incorporate braking, throttle and maneuvering to develop new types of automatic collision avoidance algorithms. Better technology, for instance, could have saved Google from a recent slow-speed accident where its vehicle was struck by a bus. During race days, students break into teams to perform different types of research. "Once you get to the track, things can go differently than you expect. So it's an excellent lesson of advanced planning," says Gerdes. In the latest rounds of testing, for instance, one PhD student developed emergency lane-change algorithms, while another recorded a skilled human driver in an attempt to convert his behavior into a driving algorithm. The main goal, of course, is to prepare students for something they may not have expected -- an automotive industry that is adopting self-driving technology at breakneck speeds. This article by Steve Dent originally ran on Engadget, the definitive guide to this connected life. Green Audi Technology Coupe Autonomous Vehicles Racing Vehicles Performance Videos racecar research