Are We Going Autonomous Crazy?

It was only a matter of time, autonomous vehicles are starting to become so advanced that testing has become a huge competition.  At first it was a competition to see who could come up with the first autonomous vehicle and be able to drive even a few feet without a driver, now the challenge is much greater.  We have heard about the cars from Google and even found Tesla to offer some nearly autonomous technology, but have you seen these cars race yet?  You may get that particular joy very soon as there is now a different racing series to offer this type of action.

The racing series for the autonomous vehicles is dubbed Formula E and the race is called ROBORACE.  This is a huge advancement in the autonomous vehicle race to bring us a race that actually allows these cars to go against each other, but there are a few wrinkles that have been put into the race to ensure it can actually be competitive.  What seems to be the underlying factor in most races, making sure the race is actually won by a driver and not just by the car and the way it’s set up.

With this in mind the Formula E race will feature ten teams that will all race the exact same car.  In this manner the spirit of racing can be upheld, it wouldn’t be fair for a high performance model to race against a daily driver model, but what they do have to race against each other is their technology.  Each of the ten teams will set up two cars to handle the racing but they will have to install and include their own Artificial Intelligence (AI) to navigate the track and find ways to race against each other.

Formula E is already in place as the electric car racing division and the ROBORACE is expected to run as a support series.  What we will likely see is a one hour race that is set to take place for an hour before the human driven races start.  This will give the autonomous racing a platform to enjoy the ride and allow us to see the advances made in this field of technology.  Even though we haven’t heard who the ten teams will be expectations are a majority of them will be from Silicon Valley or from research universities around the country.

This version of racing could successfully launch us into the world of autonomous vehicles as we see these vehicles at the track.  The publicity that can come from such a race will only enhance the desire to participate and drive some of the most advanced driving machines, even those that do not need a driver.  I would expect many crashes to take place during the first few of these races until the teams can ensure their technology is updated enough to handle the rigors of racing.  No matter the results, the first few of these races should prove to be highly entertaining.