BBC Focus

But can science fiction become fact so soon? Full

details of the challenges and racing arrangement

remain a secret but we have already seen that Audi

can create a driverless RS7 that will happily tackle a

pre-programmed race circuit at breakneck speeds

without driver input. The RS7 Piloted Driving

Concept joins the likes of BMW’s ‘self-drifting’

M1235i – which can hold a tyre-smoking powerslide

thanks to advance computing – and Yamaha’s

humanoid, superbike-riding MotoBot Concept,

which hit 120mph during one test. Regardless, a

fully-autonomous racing championship does sound

a little far-fetched, but Roborace HQ is adamant it

will have 10 teams ready to compete in contests and

races held in some of the world’s most famous cities

towards the end of this year. And how exactly will it

work? We k now each tea m will have t he exact sa me

car fitted with the same standard hardware. So they

will differentiate themselves by creating their own

real-time computing algorithms and artificial

“Teams will create their

own real-time algorithms

and AI technologies”

PHOTO: ROBORACE/KINETIK

intelligence technologies, which will ultimately

assist the cars around the track and give them the

competitive edge.

“We wa nt to cha mpion t he business of Ar tif icial

Intelligence,” explains Justin Cooke, CMO of

Roborace. “The series will celebrate where we

currently are with AI, proving to people that it can

be safe and fun, while helping to accelerate the

tech nology in road ca rs. AI will revolutionise t he

way we get around, speed up travel, reduce

accidents and clean up the environment,” he adds.

The idea is t hat Roborace will go fa r beyond a

typical motorsport format, with its founders 2

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Each team will have

the same car, but will be

able to develop their

own algorithms

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