In case you didn’t think Formula E racing was enough of an indication as to where the car industry is going, then get this; during Formula E’s 2016-2017 season, a support series will be launched with completely autonomous racing cars.
The series is being put together by Formula E and Kinetik and will be dubbed ‘ROBORACE’. Making up the series will be ten teams, each competing with two driverless cars. They will then battle it out in one-hour timed races on the same circuits around the world used by the Formula E championship.
Technical specifications about the autonomous race cars haven’t been revealed, but it’s likely they’ll borrow powertrain technology from the homogenised Formula E race car. As all the vehicles will be identical, teams will compete against each other based on AI technologies and advanced, real-time computing algorithms.
Interestingly, one of the ten teams will be a crowd-sourced entrant for the community allowing enthusiasts to develop their own racing software.
Discussing the impending series, chief executive of Formula E Alejandro Agag said “We are very excited to be partnering with Kinetik on what is surely one of the most cutting-edge sporting events in history. ROBORACE is an open challenge to the most innovative scientific and technology-focused companies in the world. 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.”
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