Engineering news
Formula E and Kinetik have announced the first ever driverless car competition entitled The Roborace Championship.
The events will see electric cars race without any drivers in the car – just the power of self driving technology, directed by engineers using real-time data algorithms.
The Roborace Championship is a partnership between Formula E and Kinetik, the London-based futures investment firm founded by Denis Sverdlov.
The Roboraces will be scheduled before each Formula E race, in major cities around the world and will be televised in more than 100 countries to millions of viewers globally starting from 2016/17.
Denis Sverdlov, chief executive of Roborace, said: “The Roborace is a celebration of the ground-breaking technology and innovation that exists today. I passionately believe in the near future all of the world’s vehicles will be powered by electricity transforming the environment and our safety. The Roborace is a wonderful way to humanise that and share it with millions of people around the world.”
The partnership also announced its chief design officer as futuristic and automotive designer Daniel Simon who was previously senior designer at Bugatti.
Simon said: “We’re living in a time where the once separated worlds of the automobile and artificial intelligence collide with unstoppable force. My goal was to create a vehicle that takes full advantage of the unusual opportunities of having no driver without ever compromising on beauty. Racing engineers and aerodynamicists have worked with me from the beginning to strike that balance.
"The Roborace is as much about competition as it is entertainment. Therefore – and quite unusual in today’s racing world – beauty was very high on our agenda and we work hard to merge the best performance with stunning styling."
The first Roboraces will take place during the 2016/17 Formula E season.