The first autonomous formula race was incredibly boring. The cars were stopping on the track and crashing into the corners – VTM.cz

The first ever autonomous formula race took place at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi on Saturday 27 April. Enterprise series Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL), he promised “a demonstration of the exciting impact of artificial intelligence on our lives and the incredible potential of autonomy”.

Unfortunately, the reality was different. Already during qualifying, it became clear that race cars without a pilot have difficulty completing a full lap. Skids or a completely illogical crash into the guardrails on the inside of the turn were no exception. It was evident that individual racers chose different tracks and braking points.

Before Saturday’s final, former Formula 1 driver Daniil Kvyat jumped into a racing car, to compete with the autonomous car technical partner Technology Innovation Institute (TII). In the end, it was not an equal race – Kvyat overtook his opponent very easily.

Race of four formulas

They took part in the race itself only four autonomous formulas. The yellow single-seater (or zero-seater?) Polimove started from the first place on the grid, clocking a time of 2:00.653 in qualifying. For comparison: the track record for Formula 1 is held by Max Verstappen and has a value of 1:26.103. He was seconded by the red Unimore formula from second place. The blue-white car of the TUM team and the red-blue Constructor started from the second row.

Four cars started the race

The formulas started from the pits and first completed two introduction laps. Then the six-lap race began with a flying start, during which the single-seaters moved obviously slower and more deliberately than their counterparts from the royal Formula 1.

The only slightly dramatic moment

The order did not change, however, in the third round, the spectators were treated to a surprising situation – the TUM formula stopped on the home stretch for no apparent reason, to start again after a while. Subsequently, the safety car mode was activated, during which overtaking is prohibited.

The TUM formula stopped for no apparent reason

In the fourth round, there was probably the most dramatic situation, when the leader of the Polimove formula spun out before one of the sharp corners during too sharp braking. She clearly didn’t know how to deal with the situation because she stood frozen in place for a few seconds afterwards. After much hesitation, she pulled off the track and the remaining three cars stopped on the finish line.

Formula Polimove spun while braking too hard

After towing the broken formula, all racing cars returned to the pits, from where after a few minutes they started for the rest of the race. There was another twist during it when the red Formula Unimore (again for no apparent reason) stopped on the inside of the corner and was overtaken by the remaining two cars.

Winner of the first autonomous formula race

And the winner becomes…

In the end, the race was won by the blue-white formula of the TUM team, followed by the red-blue Constructor single-seater. The remaining two cars did not finish the race. If you want to watch the recording of the entire event, you have the opportunity – the race starts at 1:34:29.

Subjectively speaking, it is of course necessary to take into account that this was the very first race of a new series, within which it will still be necessary to catch a number of flies. For fans of Formula 1, who remember the fierce battles of Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell or Nelson Piquet, it was incredibly boring.