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Abu Dhabi: Up to Dh8-million prize up for grabs at world's largest autonomous car race

Teams from universities around the world, public and private research institutes to take part in event

Abu Dhabi is organising the world’s largest autonomous car racing league which is set to take place at Yas Marina Circuit in 2024.

Aspire announced the launch of the event which will have a prize pool of up to Dh8 million ($2.25 million) and feature the Dallara-built Super Formula cars.

The Super Formula cars are the fastest in the world, outside of Formula One, and will be adequately equipped for autonomous racing.

Race viewers will be invited to dive into a new world of entertainment, experiencing the thrill of head-to-head autonomous car racing, with live updates from Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) infographics and real-time displays shown on screen.

A goal of the league is to push the boundaries of autonomous mobility by hosting challenges to advance R&D in autonomous racing and artificial intelligence (AI).

Additionally, the applied research executed in preparation for the league will develop cutting-edge and low-risk solutions to significantly reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions through increased efficiency, while at the same time increasing safety and performance standards of motorsports and commercial transportation.

Faisal Al Bannai, Secretary General, Advanced Technology Research Council, said: “In addition to creating a community platform for motorsports fans, the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League will feature an open development model, supporting faster progress, faster testing, and greater innovation. Machine learning and reinforcement learning will be key to collecting data and developing the technology of these vehicles.”

Yoshihisa Ueno, President, Japan Race Promotion, Inc. said: “Our SF23 race car, which will be used in the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League, is a huge leap forward in technical performance and, importantly, carbon neutrality, so it’s very exciting to see it being driven by an autonomous technology stack.”

Andrea Pontremoli, CEO of Dallara, said: “The Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League will set the pace and drive new levels of performance, safety, efficiency, and importantly, sustainability, in autonomous technologies. Watch this space.”

Open to all teams from previous autonomous racing challenges, teams from universities around the world, public and private research institutes, will be welcome to participate.