Abu Dhabi Will Hold An Autonomous Car Racing Series At The F1 Circuit Next Year

JAKARTA - If nothing changes, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) will host a new autonomous racing car racing series on the Formula One track in 2024, which aims to advance driverless technology and bring new sports shows to the capital.

This new sport involves racing vehicles controlled by computers.

The Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League will begin at the Yas Marina Circuit in the second quarter of next year, although no date has yet been announced.

With a total prize of up to USD 2.25 million, the new league wants to push for autonomous mobility limits by putting up challenges to advancing research and development in autonomous racing and artificial intelligence, while at the same time increasing fuel and safety efficiency.

Faisal Al Bannai, secretary general of the Advanced Technology Research Council, said the league would create a community platform for motorcycle sports fans.

"The Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League will feature an open development model, supporting faster progress, faster testing, and greater innovation," he said, citing The National News, March 17.

"Electric learning and reinforcement learning will be key to collecting data and developing this vehicle technology," he said.

The league will use Dallara's Super Formula car with support from Japan Race Promotion, which manages Japan's Super Formula Championships.

The Super Formula car is the fastest in the world, beyond Formula One, and will be equipped for autonomous racing, according to the league.

"Our SF23 race car is a huge leap in technical performance and, most importantly, carbon neutrality, so it's very interesting to see it driven by a pile of autonomous technology," said Yoshihisa Ueno, president of Japan Race Promotion.

"We can't wait for the first race," he continued.

More interestingly, the league also wants to provide a new way to watch motorcycle racing. Spectators will have access to virtual reality and augmented reality technologies, which allow them to sit in the driver's seat and see firsthand head-to-head autonomous car racing, with live updates and real-time displays on the screen.

These are the early days for a new strand of motorsport but leagues and autonomous racing events are popping up all over the world.

It is known that the 1981 Autonomous Challenge (IAC) annual event, held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the United States in early 2021, is the first head-to-head race between autonomous racing vehicles.

The IAC event organizers said they were inspired by those competing in the Big Challenges of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), which awarded $1 million in 2004.

Competition from most teams affiliated with the university has created a modern automatic vehicle industry.

Aspire, the organizer of Abu Dhabi's new league, took a similar approach, opening up all teams from previous autonomous racing challenges as well as public and private universities and research institutions.

Autonomous car racing will be the first in a series of autonomous vehicle races in the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League to be launched in 2024, according to organizers.

It is known, in addition to autonomous car racing, it is also planned for offroad vehicle racing and autonomous drones.