Audi has broken the world speed record for a self-driving car during a series of trials in Germany.

The automaker's RS7 vehicle reached top speeds of 149mph during a test on the Hockenheim racing circuit near Frankfurt, Digital Spy reports citing BBC News.

The autonomous car took just over two minutes to complete a lap of the Grand Prix circuit, and around five seconds more with a driver behind the wheel.

It used a combination of on-board computing equipment, cameras, laser scanners, GPS location data, radio transmissions and radar sensors to navigate its way around the track.

Although self-driving cars are some years away from mainstream adoption, Audi believes that initiatives in "piloted driving" could help reduce road accidents in the future.

"Piloted driving defuses situations like, for example, being in a traffic jam. Whenever the driver is distracted and inattentive the car could take over," said Dr Horst Glaser of the company's research team.

"Additionally the driver has a chance to relax. That means they are on full alert as soon as their attention is required again."

Audi is not the only car manufacturer researching self-driving vehicles, with Mercedes, Volvo, Toyota, and BMW also active in this field, along with tech companies like Google.