If you’re into artificial intelligence, high-speed mechanical competition, and the kind of open-minded ‘statement‘ designs for which concept cars are known, then you’ll find that the all-electric Formula E circuit of the Federation Internationale de L’Automobile (FIA) just got a whole lot s3xier.
Yesterday, Formula E announced its selection for the kind of ‘robocar’–that is, passenger-free machine that’ll whiz ’round FIA-grade racetracks around the world–that teams of software engineers will use to pit their individually crafted self-driving software against competitors’. Backed by UK-based VC fund KINETIK, “RoboRace“ is the automation-ready vehicle of the hour, and will test out new, next-generation versions of navigational software that’s currently used with self-driving cars from Google, Tesla, and others–but at speeds of up to 200mph, and in a crowd.
The ‘smart’ machine in the brainchild of Daniel Simon, the project’s chief design officer, who explained that removing human-accommodating features from the car’s list of ‘must-haves’ allowed he and his team to approach the design from entirely new angles (as well as to have a little fun):
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 [and] 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 ‘smart’ machine in the brainchild of Daniel Simon, the project’s chief design officer, who explained that removing human-accommodating features from the car’s list of ‘must-haves’ allowed he and his team to approach the design from entirely new angles (as well as to have a little fun):
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 [and] 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.
ref:-http://www.forbes.com/sites/janetwburns/2016/03/31/heads-up-h#t-rods-fia-autonomous-robo-racing-has-arrived/#3f5191ef1102