AI racing tournament challenges the limits of self-driving technology

The Autonomous Racing League (A2RL) auto racing tournament took place on the Yas Marina racetrack in Abu Dhabi with the victory belonging to the racing team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM).

Racing cars in the Autonomous Racing League. (Photo: AI Business).

At A2RL , 8 racing teams representing the United States, Germany, Sweden, China, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Hungary, Singapore and Italy compete to win prizes worth 2.25 million USD at the end of April, AI Business reported on April 30. The teams use the same 2023 Dallara Super Formula car in standard form. This is the fastest open-wheel racing car in the world, with a capacity of 550 horsepower and a speed of nearly 300 km/h. In A2RL, the vehicle is equipped with 7 Sony cameras, 4 ZF radar sensors and 3 Seyond LIDAR devices in the autopilot package along with Nvidia graphics processor. The difference between the teams lies in how they use coding skills, AI algorithms and machine learning to teach the car how to drive itself.

The challenge for each team is to develop AI software that allows the car to run on the track, complete the race in the fastest time, surpass opponents and make strategic decisions to win. When the car is on the track, humans are not allowed to interfere. Instead, each car makes its own AI-based decisions about how fast it should go, when to brake, what track to follow, when to overtake opponents, and how risky it should be. willing to accept. Factors that AI software needs to master include understanding road grip, managing tire temperature, predicting the movements of rival vehicles and overtaking.

A2RL marks the first time four AI-controlled racing cars run on the track at the same time . In the end, TUM's race car won the victory after qualifying in Unimore, Italy.

The event was organized by ASPIRE, a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC). Organizers hope that by creating a high-tech testing environment with a competitive element and prize money, AI research will progress, leading to technology that could become common in future driverless cars. , shipping infrastructure, farms and many other robotic systems.