The first of its kind league in the MENA region will bring driverless racing and VR viewing to the UAE capital
Abu Dhabi is going to be home to the world’s largest autonomous racing league in 2024!
ASPIRE, the Technology Transition Arm of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), has announced the launch of the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League.
The announcement is in line with ASPIRE’s vision of building a world-class research and development (R&D) hub in Abu Dhabi.
Scheduled to kick off in the second half of 2024, the first autonomous car race will spearhead a series of autonomous vehicle races in the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League. Motorheads can also look forward to autonomous off-road racing, autonomous drone racing, and more.
The races will take place at the iconic Yas Marina Circuit on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi with a prize pool of up to over AED 8 million (USD 2.25 million) up for grabs!
The league will feature specially built, driverless Dallara-built Super Formula cars, the usage of which has been enabled by Japan Racing Promotion (JRP). The Super Formula cars are the fastest in the world, outside of Formula One, and will be adequately equipped for autonomous racing.
A first of its kind in the MENA region, the races can be witnessed in person as well as in virtual and augmented reality. A core 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 will help develop cutting-edge and low-risk solutions to significantly reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions through increased efficiency, safety and performance standards.
Faisal Al Bannai, Secretary-General of ATRC, 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.”
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Image source WAM
