Someday, in the not-too-distant future, the greatest racing drivers of all time could compete again, at least within the coding of the Roborace self-driving race car. Fresh from its successful run at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, this driverless racing machine could someday use its electronic brain to study and simulate the driving style of racing heroes like Ayrton Senna or James Hunt.
According to this report in Top Gear, the human brains working behind the scenes with the Roborace project have big ambitions for this technology, both on and off a racetrack. Not only could the car theoretically copy the driving style of a specific human driver, it could be used to augment long-distance races too. At the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, for example, the human driver could compete until he/she needed a rest. Rather than have another carbon-based life form take the helm, the car's computer — which had studied its human teammate's style and behavior — could take over for the next stint.
"We've been asked if those old F1 names can come back into the sport," Roborace's chief strategy officer, Bryn Balcombe, explained to Top Gear. "Like, 'Can you have Ayrton Senna come back and drive one of the Robocars, and then compete against Lewis Hamilton?'"
Imagine rekindling former red-hot racing rivalries like Senna and Prost, or even legends from other series like NASCAR and the WRC. It all sounds a little crazy, even creepy, and, if we're being honest, awfully cool.
The Robocar itself is entirely electric-powered, with four 135 kW electric motors that produce a total of about 500 horsepower. A vast array of sensors — cameras mounted around the car, along with lidar, radar, and a GPS system — all work to keep the car going at maximum speed (and away from walls or other hard objects). The only thing missing from this equation: the sound of a 1988 McLaren screaming down a straightaway.
Could a Roborace vehicle simulate a blocking maneuver, or some of the more ruthless driving techniques that the best in the business have sometimes relied on to win? That remains to be seen, though programming a little misbehavior into a vehicle would probably be best-served on a racetrack, versus your morning commute. Then again, who wouldn't want a virtual Ayrton Senna to drive them to work?
According to this report in Top Gear, the human brains working behind the scenes with the Roborace project have big ambitions for this technology, both on and off a racetrack. Not only could the car theoretically copy the driving style of a specific human driver, it could be used to augment long-distance races too. At the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, for example, the human driver could compete until he/she needed a rest. Rather than have another carbon-based life form take the helm, the car's computer — which had studied its human teammate's style and behavior — could take over for the next stint.
"We've been asked if those old F1 names can come back into the sport," Roborace's chief strategy officer, Bryn Balcombe, explained to Top Gear. "Like, 'Can you have Ayrton Senna come back and drive one of the Robocars, and then compete against Lewis Hamilton?'"
Imagine rekindling former red-hot racing rivalries like Senna and Prost, or even legends from other series like NASCAR and the WRC. It all sounds a little crazy, even creepy, and, if we're being honest, awfully cool.
The Robocar itself is entirely electric-powered, with four 135 kW electric motors that produce a total of about 500 horsepower. A vast array of sensors — cameras mounted around the car, along with lidar, radar, and a GPS system — all work to keep the car going at maximum speed (and away from walls or other hard objects). The only thing missing from this equation: the sound of a 1988 McLaren screaming down a straightaway.
Could a Roborace vehicle simulate a blocking maneuver, or some of the more ruthless driving techniques that the best in the business have sometimes relied on to win? That remains to be seen, though programming a little misbehavior into a vehicle would probably be best-served on a racetrack, versus your morning commute. Then again, who wouldn't want a virtual Ayrton Senna to drive them to work?
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