Self-Driving Car Speed Race Ends With A Crash (electrek.co)

An anonymous reader writes:On a professional track in Buenos Aires, fans watched the first Formula E auto race with self-driving electric cars. "Roborace's two test vehicles battled it out on the circuit at a reasonably quick 115MPH," reports Engadget, "but one of the cars crashed after it took a turn too aggressively. The racing league was quick to tout the safety advantages of crashing autonomous cars ('no drivers were harmed'), but it's clear that the tech is still rough around the edges." Electrek is reporting that the cars "still have a cabin for a driver but neither car's cabin was occupied during the event." The ultimate goal is to have several teams racing the exact same self-driving car, while letting each team customize its car's driving software.
An Argentinian journalist shared footage of the race cars on Twitter, and apparently at one point a dog wandered out in front of an oncoming race car. But the real question is how the fans are going to feel about watching a speed race between cars with no drivers?

Comments

This won't be successful.

[JustNiz]

The physical risk to the driver, and the driver's skill under pressure are what makes watching motor racing exciting.

Take them both away by replacing it with software and all you have is another boring nerdfest.

No excitement means no spectators. No spectators means no money. No money means no sport.

Re:This won't be successful.

[tsotha]

The physical risk to the driver, and the driver's skill under pressure are what makes watching motor racing exciting.

I see a lot of people assert that, but I wonder how many of them are racing fans. Personally I'd rather see robots - the race could be a lot more aggressive with nobody's life on the line.

Re:Totally disagree

[vlad30]

What makes Robot Wars and Battlebots interesting is the rules and limits placed on the bots. the builders have to decide how much to sacrifice armour for weapons and manoeuvrability in the weight limit and how to design a weapon in those limits. and when bot builders all go for the same winning design they modify the rules the following year. e.g. when wedge bots became popular hazards were put into the arena. And none of the bots carry an armour piercing explosive round something that would be on a real battlebot designed for warfare. The same has occurred in car racing involving human drivers and the same will occur in e-racing