CES 2021: Autonomous Racing is Coming to Indianapolis With the Indy Autonomous Challenge
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c|net: CES 2021: Autonomous racing is coming to Indianapolis with the Indy Autonomous Challenge:
We've seen a couple of attempts at getting an autonomous racing series off the ground in recent years from the likes of Roborace and others, but none have really found much traction. A new series called the Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC) hopes to change that.
The series was announced on Monday during the 2021 CES show and features racecar chassis designed by the experts at Dallara -- you may know it as the firm that does all the chassis for the Indy Car series others. Interestingly, this is being run as a spec race, where the cars are all identical mechanically and it's each team's software that gives it a competitive edge.
[T]he Indy Autonomous Challenge will pit 30 university teams against one another to remotely race full-size, and fully-powered, Indy cars for 20 laps. The first team to reach the finish line goes home with $1 million.
"If we can go 240 miles per hour without colliding, surely we can make highway traffic safer," said Mark Miles, president and chief executive of Penske Entertainment Corp., which owns the IndyCar Series and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - where the Indy Autonomous Challenge will take place.
[...] October's race was inspired by the DARPA autonomous challenge of 2005, which saw 196 teams competing to drive a car 140 miles without a person inside. Just five teams completed the race within the allotted time.
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