A new driverless race series has been announced for 2016, which will see autonomous electric vehicles (EVs) compete using real-time algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI).
ROBORACE is a joint venture between electric driving series Formula E and investment company Kinetik, which recently acquired UK-based commercial EV manufacturer Charge. The series will form part of the support package for Formula E, taking place on the same circuits over the 2016/2017 season. Ten teams in total will compete, each with two driverless cars.
“We passionately believe that, in the future, all of the world’s vehicles will be assisted by AI and powered by electricity, thus improving the environment and road safety,” said Denis Sverdlov, founder of Kinetik.
“ROBORACE is a celebration of revolutionary technology and innovation that humanity has achieved in that area so far. It’s a global platform to show that robotic technologies and AI can co-exist with us in real life. Thus, anyone who is at the edge of this transformation now has a platform to show the advantages of their driverless solutions and this shall push the development of the technology.”
Each team will race exactly the same cars, meaning the real battle will be fought via the programming and AI developed for the vehicles. Alongside involvement from big automotive players and academic institutions, ROBORACE is planning on having one team organised as “a crowd-sourced community team”, open to software and technology enthusiasts from around the world.
“ROBORACE is an open challenge to the most innovative scientific and technology-focused companies in the world,” said Alejandro Agag, CEO of Formula E.
“It is very exciting to create a platform for them to showcase what they are capable of and I believe there is great potential for us to unearth the next big idea through the unique crowd-sourced contest.”
Real-life Scalextrix? Sounds about as interesting to watch as a “Scalextrix party” (we used to have these when I was a teenager,all attendees would bring their own kit of Scalextrix pieces thus enabling a very large track to be built)
Got news for you Denis. Nothing I am driving and more especially riding will have AI anywhere near it mate!
Dave.
Why do we need driverless cars anyway? Does anyone remember when driving was a pleasure, not a chore? Too much effort goes into disrupting traffic flow in the name of calming and safety – stop start stop start – hardly an ecological policy is it?
All the world’s vehicles? That is a bold claim. I can just see a 1967 Ferrari 275 GTB 4 Cam with an AI radar stuck on its roof..
Driverless racing? Spectator-less too I would imagine…
Dave Mayer. In answer to you question yes I and a lot of people I know still enjoy driving and find it very enjoyable and I agree about the “traffic calming”
If you want to keep pedestrians safe build bridges and tunnels. If you want to keep cyclists safe have more cycle routes. Stop putting in ramps and narrowing streets in the name of some PC ideology.
And before the “climate change” brigade start why cant we just collect exhaust gases in compressed gas canisters in the boot and then use the C02 to boost plant growth in greenhouses?
Dave.
And another thing! Driverless racing takes away the thing people really watch racing for – THE RISK! That is the thing that makes motor racing a true sport – see Ernest Hemingway – and not just a high speed merry go round otherwise radio controlled racing with its variety of machines and huge scaled speeds would already be the most popular form of racing.
That is truly the biggest challenge supporters of this face – actually getting people to CARE about the robots – a job for Disney I guess.
Dave.