Roborace Is The Driverless Electric Racing Series No One Asked For
Remember Formula E? The all-electric single-seater championship that quietly burst onto the motorsport scene last year? Well, now it has announced a new support series featuring 20 identical cars, all of which will be driverless.
It will be a great way of developing autonomous and AI technology, there is no denying that, but will it really work as a motorsport series? Each race will last one hour, with 10 teams (each with two cars) competing on the same street tracks as Formula E.
Roborace is certainly an interesting concept and one that will generate a lot of attention ahead of its debut during the 2016-2017 Formula E season, but it will put viewers in an unusual position. Who do you support? There are no drivers to cheer on, no manufacturers fighting it out. Plus, how can you celebrate a result when there isn’t anyone driving the car? Podium ceremonies will be pretty quick…
AI and driverless technology is still very new and with not much time before the cars hit the track, it will likely be a problematic start. Perhaps the first corner will be chaos like on a racing game. What happens if they spin out or hit the wall? Maybe they will just drive into the barrier, with the throttle to the floor until the motor unit overheats, like in old F1 titles. Or worse, the cars might all drive in an overly cautious manner, making for a boring race. There are lots of potential issues.
Also, the logo is pretty scary, right?
The series also takes away a lot of what makes motorsport great - the talented drivers, wrestling the cars, the human mind at work and the race craft being shown. Watching driverless cars programmed to race around a track will be very different and doesn’t sound particularly fun, although proof will be in the pudding.
The novelty will probably wear off pretty quickly, too. So you’ve seen cars without a driver race a few times, then what? The use of real-time computing algorithms and AI technologies could either create the great racing we all pray for or something completely disastrous, dull and boring.
So, what do you think, are you excited for Roborace, or don’t care whatsoever? Let us know in the poll below!
Comments
It would only make sense if each team developed the car, because once someone figures out the best AI there wouldn’t be any competition; this making it an engineering competition without human error. However, teams shouldn’t be allowed to develop during the season, so the best all round car would win, not the best tuned for each track.Even if it were to be like this, I don’t think it would make for entraining races. I certainly don’t think I would watch it.
“There are no drivers to cheer on, no manufacturers fighting it out.”
THEN WHERE THE HELL IS THE COMPETITION? IT’S JUST GOING TO BE LIKE WATCHING A ONE MAKE RACE WITH ONLY AI IN GT6!
If the cars are identical, and all driven by ai, shouldnt all of the lap times be identical meaning no overtaking unless the cars are programmed to fix timings to make it more interesting?…… most stupid idea ever for a racing series…
Oh come on, this could be cool. It would be the ultimate nerd vs. nerd sport. AI programmer vs. AI programmer. Kind of like that Real Steel movie, except with less suck.
I am a programmer and I like developing AI. This is exciting where do I signup for a team? :D
So if this does exist in the future, would we become drivatars?
This goes against my principles but just imagine, AIs racing and going for the gap! There is no fear. Also, no driver, which makes cars more aerodynamic. The technology there can help us. Now this will be a hit if teams could bring whatever they can think of, just like old F1.
Welcome to F1 2020, here in Melbourne where the race will be getting underway shortly!
I think it gonna be very interesting, because everybody starts fresh and after that we will see some serious performance shifts. Also it will alter car AI industry a lot (which is very nice. I like driving, but sitting in traffic ain’t my thing, why not let the robot do that annoying part?). As far as racing will go, every downvoter, have you ever seen Darpa robot competitions? They are expensive, cool and sometimes hilarious at the same time. Like robot missing the wall and trying to drill the air instead of a wall.
Many of you guys say, that the cars will run smoothly and careful, but you realize, that they won’t start from one line, so there gonna be certainly a competition and with lots of crashes which is always nice to watch. I’m looking forward to this, because I think it gonna be speedy crashy nerd race ^^
I was watching this channel a while back like 4 years ago and sometimes it would show a short 5 minute documentary that showed robots playing football (soccer) and they we’re entertaining very fun to watch even if it’s not as fast.