One of the teams will be organised as a crowdsourced community team which, organisers said, would be open to both experts and hobbyists. Roborace will pit driverless electric cars against each other in a round-the-world series.
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When automakers began testing their autonomous cars I had this thought that maybe in a few years we won’t get to drive our cars anymore.
Formula E, a class of auto racing for electric cars, has teamed up with battery manufacturer Kinetik to create the first race for autonomous, electric cars.
It will form part of the support package for the Formula E Championship, with races taking place at the same circuits prior to each Formula E race.
The series will be a software rather than a hardware competition, with each of the 10 projected teams getting two identical cars.
Formula E is now in its second season after an inaugural year steeped in doubt as to whether all-electric racing cars would draw in a crowd.
The current ten-round Formula E championship includes races in California, Beijing, Berlin, Moscow, Mexico City, Paris and London.
No teams have signed up to take part, but Alejandro Agag, CEO of Formula E, told WIRED he would like to see “all the companies that are working on driverless” be involved in the championship.
The difference will be made by the teams behind the scenes using real-time computing algorithms and AI technology.
The initiative is the result of a new partnership between the series and Kinetik, an investment company backing emerging technologies.
Kinetik founder Denis Sverdlov said that Roborace “is a celebration of revolutionary technology and innovation that humanity has achieved in that area so far”.
The stated mission of the new series is to demonstrate that autonomous driving technology “is already here, and can even work in extreme conditions”. Charge will become Official Truck Partner of the FIA Formula E Championship and will provide electric trucks for the drivers’ parade, towing trucks for emergency recovery of the racing cars and shuttles for transportation of guests and visitors of the championship around the eVillage.
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More details will be announced early next year.
