Next year’s Formula E will feature two driverless race cars.
Banners high, tires screeching on the barren raceway, engines packed, a short respite, and they’re off! That is what racing is all about. But what happens when you turn a conventional Formula 1 event into an all-out robo-clash? We are about to find out next year when the robowheels will hit the raceway.
As part of their take on climate talks, the Formula E championship season of 2016-2017, will feature a somewhat motley crew. Instead of ringing names, the public will be delighted with a road-show featuring two driverless cars and 10 teams that will charge headlong in order to secure the mouthwatering trophy.
The championship will be called ROBORACE and it is set to take place during 2016’s Formula E competition. Militating for cleaner solutions, the organizers wanted to show how reliant an electrical car can be. Moreover, it would seem that Formula E’s intent to introduce driverless cars on the runway seems to coincide with the COP21 global climate parley, hosted by Paris.
And so, Formula E decided to partner up with Kinetik, a company known for its wacky inventions in the area of electric cars and trains. Basically, Kinetik will supply the track with both brains and brawns. Kinetik’s think thanks, Denis Sverdlov, is the one who came up with the idea of having robots in the racetrack. He said the event holds a double significance. Apart from entertaining the public with robo battles, the head of Kinetik wants to demonstrate how resilient and environmental friendly can an electric vehicle be.
Moreover, by packing the car with its very own artificial intelligence we can look forward to safer traffic conditions. Sverdlov explained that the event itself could be perceived as a sort of tribute to science and technological advance. It comes to show us where we stood and how far we have come in terms of technological development.
The event is set to air during the 2016-2017 Formula E race. Two cars and ten teams have been selected in order to compete in this rather quaint event. Moreover, the cars will engage in an one hour race each day, for the duration of the event.
When asked about his feeling towards the future, Sverdlov said that his looking forward to a bright future where man and machine can colaborate in order to make Earth a better place. He also underlined the fact that the concept of driverless vehicles is starting to take shape and we should expect so see more of them on the road.
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