Autonomous Racing Series Discussion Thread

[MGCM]

With Autonomous cars already doing real world testing in many corners of the globe it begs the question, when will an Autonomous Racing Series be formed? What will it look like? Will they start off Nascar style? Will they go for something more dramatic and only have video broadcast from thousands of stationary and mobile cams while these Autonomous Vehicles race at speeds and accross terrain that a Human body cannot handle?

From my point of view the potential for a series like that is endless, international competition from some of the worlds best automotive engineers and designers. I recall hearing something from Formula 1, along the lines of, "we could make the cars go faster but our drivers cannot handle the physical stress." How long until somebody says eff it im gunna make a car go 2x as fast as a Formula 1 car with an Autonomous design, just because they can. Maybe it will take 50 years, but the truth is very clear, it WILL HAPPEN!!!!

So beyond, what do you think future racing series will look like? And please, keep it clean, this is meant as a proper discussion not a "he said she said arguement"

Enjoy!!!! :drama:

[Mibz]

I don't think it'll ever happen, to be honest. It's already hard enough to accurately convey the speed and intensity of F1 on television. Try taking the human element out of it completely.

Instead of a driver getting on a podium, some nerd or businessman gets up there and says "This was a team effort, thanks to everybody involved, and big thanks to 53-NN4 for, uh, doing what we programmed him to do".

Holy balls. It'd be just like F1 right now. They'd dial in the cars to run a certain lap time to ensure optimal tire wear/fuel strategy. Mechanical failures would be just like Grosjean and Maldonado, haha.

Seriously though, there will be little leagues or tournaments or whatever where University engineers can show off their autonomous racing car, but an actual publicized racing series is, IMO, extremely unlikely to gain any sort of popularity.

[thetransporter]

We need autonomous vehicles in Calgary , they (autonomous vehicles) can drive much better than many Calgarians.

[Xtrema]

It will be as exciting as battlebots

[MGCM]

Originally posted by thetransporter
We need autonomous vehicles in Calgary , they (autonomous vehicles) can drive much better than many Calgarians.

cross the boarder to the south of us and then tell me how badly autonomus cars are needed. Why do we need them? Because the governments dont have the balls to properly regulate driving, the governments have zero desire to install proper public transit systems, and if its all done by computer then your vehicle becomes a jailcell with law enforcement able to reprogram your route to include a stop at the local police station for watever unpaid or late paid fines you may have. Control, yet another form of it that the governments will take full advantage of when the time comes.

[hellraiser456]

I dont think it will be mainstream in racing because a race is a test of driver skill and machine.

However if my car would drive me to work every morning, and i could have a nap on the way...i would be sold.

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by hellraiser456
However if my car would drive me to work every morning, and i could have a nap on the way...i would be sold.

It's called the bus? :dunno:

J/K.

[toastgremlin]

Originally posted by Xtrema


It's called the bus? :dunno:

J/K. Yeah but your car doesn't urinate on you and try to steal your iPod.

[sillysod]

Originally posted by toastgremlin
Yeah but your car doesn't urinate on you and try to steal your iPod.

or...

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/927125/thumbs/o-CTRAIN-HAIR-facebook.jpg

[Sugarphreak]

...

[DeleriousZ]

Would be cool I think, for a while. Could be very interesting to see what engineers could do to push the absolute limits of speed and grip without worrying about the human error element, or needing to worry about extreme g-forces or fatigue. But after a season of racing or two I imagine the magic might wear off, without the personal rivalries and whatnot.