The first race of Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL) took place today at the Yas Marina Abu Dhabi Formula 1 Grand Prix track and I am pleased to report that a race has started and finished. But the event was not without conflict, far from it. During qualifying time trials, Dallara Super Formula's driverless racers, equipped with cameras and software, appeared to have great difficulty completing a full lap.
During the tests, the cars vibrated randomly:
Or you just left the track to take a short break:
You'll become familiar with the interstitial music during these highlights. All praise to the patience and grace of the announcers, who did not sigh once when I heard it. Instead, they stated things like these cars are “pushing the boundaries of science.”
When It was time for the real race.the leading broker, Polimove, turned in the fourth of eight laps. The second car, Tum, passed him without problems, but shortly after, event officials raised a yellow flag. And since these are good ai drivers who obey the rules, the two behind Polimove stopped, not wanting to pass the yellow car that skidded. Racers are not supposed to pass each other during a caution lap.
About an hour after the first lap of A2RL began, the ai racers completed their eight-lap race. If you must know, Tum won.
These are the early days of autonomous racing and things will surely improve over time; They've certainly come a long way since the first full Roborace circuit in 2017. I'm looking forward to the day when they're as good as human racers (if that ever happens). But for now, we're still in the “congratulate the baby for successfully putting most of his food in his mouth” phase of autonomous runners.
