Formula E, the electric version of Formula 1, is to launch a global race series for driverless electric cars starting in the 2016-17 season.
Formula E began in September last year and falls under the umbrella of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) which oversees most motor sport including Formula 1. Formula E drivers include famous names such as Jacques Villeneuve, Jarno Trulli, Nick Heidfeld, Bruno Senna, Nicolas Prost and reigning champion Nelson Piquet Jnr.
The plan for the new driverless car championship, to be called Roborace, is for the races to take place prior to each Formula E race, using the same circuits in major cities across the world.
The series will initially involve ten teams, each with two driverless cars, competing in one-hour races over the full championship season. All teams will have the same vehicles but will use their own real-time computing algorithms and artificial intelligence technologies.
The driving force behind Roborace is Denis Sverdlov, founder of venture capitalists Kinetik.
“We passionately believe that, in the future, all of the world’s vehicles will be assisted by AI and powered by electricity, thus improving the environment and road safety,” said Sverdlov.
“Roborace is a celebration of revolutionary technology and innovation that humanity has achieved in that area so far. It’s a global platform to show that robotic technologies and AI can co-exist with us in real life. Thus, anyone who is at the edge of this transformation now has a platform to show the advantages of their driverless solutions and this shall push the development of the technology.”
Formula E CEO Alejandro Agag said the series would be an open challenge to the most innovative scientific and technology-focused companies in the world.
“It is very exciting to create a platform for them to showcase what they are capable of and I believe there is great potential for us to unearth the next big idea through the unique crowd-sourced contest,” Agag said.
Formula E cars competing at Putrajaya in Malaysia last month. Photo: Formula E.