AI car racing They are already a reality. However, Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz or Checo Pérez can rest assured: technology is still far from leaving them out of work. Over the weekend the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL), a kind of “autonomous F1” that, as its name indicates, faced cars piloted by artificial intelligence.
The results of the first AI race were more curious than spectacular. The A2RL is a project that wants to demonstrate that competitions with vehicles not controlled by humans are not that far away in time. And although there are some redeemable points, if one thing has become clear, it is that the execution of this idea it’s still very green.
Many of us found out about the existence of the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League when the competition weekend was already underway. And our jaws dropped, although that’s not necessarily a compliment. It is true that the event was used as a kind of technological test bed, but it was promoted as something much more grandiose than it really was.
The tests that were carried out at the Yas Marina circuit, in the United Arab Emirates, were plagued by hilarious moments. From cars circulating along the route at a snail’s pace, to others moving in a strange way – as if without being able to figure out where they had to go -, or directly crashing into the retaining walls.
The “autonomous F1” even had a quite striking scene during an overtaking competition. In this race, one of the AI-driven cars realized that it didn’t have the speed or space to overtake a rival at the end of the long opposite straight, but finished hitting him from behind and causing confusion for both. It was one of the most “exciting” moments of the event, without a doubt.
The first car race with AI left very curious moments
After the various preliminary events, four cars shared the track in the AI race itself. The victory was in the hands of the German team TUM, who was able to cross the finish line first after 8 quite bumpy laps. Let’s keep in mind that the race was neutralized under a yellow flag after the leading car suffered a solo spin.
The curious thing was that the other vehicles braked on the track, forcing them to be taken back to the pit area and the competition relaunched. At the end, an overtake allowed the winners to receive the checkered flag and keep the prize of 2.25 million dollars.
The Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL) had its premiere with eight teams from different parts of the world. Several of them were made up of representatives of universities who took advantage of this race with AI to demonstrate their knowledge and exploit their inventiveness. The first to participate were these:
- Fly Eagle (China and United Arab Emirates);
- Code19 Racing (United States);
- Constructor University (Germany);
- Kinettz (Singapore and United Arab Emirates);
- Humda Lab (Hungary);
- Polimove (Italy);
- Unimore (Italy);
- TUM (Germany).
The first step towards an “autonomous F1”?
The cars that took to the track in this “autonomous F1” race with AI were actually based on in the Japanese Super Formula. The organizers used a Dallara chassis specially prepared to include the necessary equipment for autonomous driving, as well as a turbocharged inline 4-cylinder engine based on a 2-liter Honda impeller.
In terms of technology, each of these vehicles incorporated 7 Sony IMX728 cameras for 360-degree coverage, 4 ZF ProWave radars and 3 Seyond Falcon Kinetic FK1 LiDAR sensors. Added to this was the on-board computer with which the teams work to execute artificial intelligence behind the wheel.
Through this first race with AI, the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL) kicked off what it hopes to be a broader event. That programmers and engineers can test and demonstrate the capabilities of their algorithms is really interesting. However, It is still far from being an event full of emotion that can attract motorsport fans. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for this initiative.
