First autonomous car race: like formula 1, only without a driver

Like Formula 1, but without a driver – this was the world’s first autonomous race

Beutelsbacher, Stefan

In the race against the clock in october 2021, the German TUM team from the technical university of munich came out on top. This time, the bolide of the Italian-American team polimove was the fastest.

Source: WORLD / kevin knauer

U m 15.46 o’clock, the engineers of the italian-american polimove team made history in the desert of the u.s. state of nevada: at that moment, their bolide started to overtake on the las vegas motor speedway and passed its opponent, the white-blue car of the TUM team from munich, Germany. On Friday, polimove won the Indy Autonomous Challenge, or IAC for short – the first race in the world in which only autonomous cars competed.

Nine teams, all sent by universities, competed on the oval 30 kilometers northeast of the famous las vegas strip. Their cars didn’t race in a field like in Formula 1, which would still be too difficult for the algorithms. Instead, they competed in duels. The robot cars battled one on one – like polimove and TUM, who were in the finals of the competition.

Polimove's car passes the car of the German team TUM from Munich (in front)

There was everything you’re used to seeing in races: spins, crashes, engine damage. The cars look just like formula 1 cars and have roaring engines as well. Still, it seemed strange to see the cars without pilots – without helmets sticking out of the cockpits – chasing around the track at 270 kilometers per hour. So much power in the hands of an artificial intelligence, it seemed almost threatening.

It all comes down to the algorithms

The race took place on the fringes of CES, the world’s largest tech trade show. All teams drove the same model: the AV-21 from the Italian manufacturer dallara. The engine of the bolide is old school, it’s a four cylinder. But the cockpit is packed with modern autonomous technology.

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where the pilot sits in formula 1, the IAC has radar, lidar (laser radar), cameras and a computer brain. The focus is on this technology; the other factors, such as aerodynamics and tires, are identical for all the vehicles. It all comes down to who has the smartest, fastest algorithms.

"autonomous driving is already difficult at low speeds," said florian sauerbeck of the TUM team, which consists of doctoral students from the technical university of munich, before the competition in the pit lane. The artificial intelligence has to coordinate a large number of different sensors. "and on a race track, at speed 270," explained sauerbeck, "the challenge is infinitely greater."the slightest overcorrection or the slightest deceleration could lead to disaster.

"getting around effortlessly in normal road traffic"

GPS positioning is especially tricky at such high speeds. And there was something else that made life difficult for the IAC teams in nevada: the curves of the las vegas motor speedway are banked 20 degrees. This can confuse the cameras and algorithms of the vehicles. "but that’s exactly the kind of critical situations we want," said sauerbeck. "the idea is: if our car masters the exceptions, it will effortlessly cope with normal road traffic."

At the time trial in Indianapolis, their artificial intelligence was still ahead: the German team TUM and their car

That’s exactly the goal, according to Paul Mitchell, the competition’s chief organizer. "our aim is not to establish a new racing series," he explained, "but to accelerate the development of autonomous vehicles." many innovations in the car industry have their origins in racing. "i hope," said mitchell, "that this event brings us a little closer to the robotic car for everyone."

In october, the nine teams had already started on a track in the city of indianapolis. However, this was not a head-to-head race like the one in las vegas, but a time trial. So the autonomous cars were just fighting the clock. Winner then: the team from munich.

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Christina Cherry
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