On Saturday, April 27th, Abu Dhabi will host a groundbreaking event, welcoming 10,000 spectators to witness the inaugural ASPIRE Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL) at the iconic Yas Marina Circuit.
This brand-new autonomous racing competition marks a significant milestone in motorsport history, billed as the largest league of its kind globally.
Eight teams will compete: Code19 Racing (one of the first independent autonomous racing entity from the USA), Constructor University (based in Germany and Switzerland), Fly Eagle (representing Beijing Institute of Technology from China and Khalifa University from the UAE), HUMDA Lab (a member of the Széchenyi István University Group from Hungary), KINETIZ (a collaboration between Singapore Nanyang Technological University and Kintsugi based in the UAE), PoliMOVE (representing Politecnico di Milano from Italy), UNIMORE (also from Italy – University of Modena and Reggio Emilia), and Technical University of Munich – TUM (from Germany), vying for a substantial prize purse of US$ 2.25 million.
The participating teams of coders and engineers will each have exclusive access to identical Dallara Super Formula SF23 cars, made possible through a partnership with Japan Race Promotions.
These cars will be autonomized with autonomous racing stacks developed and integrated by the Technology Innovation Institute (TII). The sole variable lies in how each team utilizes their coding skills, AI algorithms, and machine learning software development expertise to teach their cars how to drive.
Currently recognized as the fastest open-wheel race car in the world after Formula One, these cars can reach speeds of up to 300 km/h.