Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the most legendary race track in the world, known for sheer speed and unadulterated horsepower – add driverless Indy Cars.
From an article in Autoweek by Jerry Bonkowski
Saturday, nearly a dozen modified Dallara II-15 Indy Lights chassis will take to the 2.5-mile oval and reach three-digit speeds in a special 20-lap race.But with one exception. Make that one MAJOR exception.
For the first time in IMS history, the cars will be missing one of the most vital components any type of motorsport event must have.
Namely, drivers.
That’s right, there will be no humans behind the wheel. In fact, none of the vehicles even have a driver’s seat, as IMS plays host to the first-ever Indy Autonomous Challenge, presented by Indianapolis-based non-profit Energy Systems Network (ESN). After nearly two years of development and testing, 10 teams made up of students from 21 universities and from nine different countries will match wits and technological expertise in The Challenge for a $1 million top prize.
“In many ways, (Saturday) is about showcasing the culmination of two years of work by dozens of universities that have been advancing the state of the art in software to pilot autonomous vehicles, and then validating that over a period of months in the real world with 60-plus days of track practices at (nearby) Lucas Oil Raceway and IMS,” ESN president/CEO Paul Mitchell told Autoweek. “What you’re going to see is high speed, autonomous race cars circling the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at speeds in excess of 100 miles an hour. And that, in and of itself, is going to be both a record in the sense that no one’s done it before, but also … (there is) this extra level of shock and awe that there’s nobody driving the car.”
While the cars will look and feel like race cars, the technology being used will likely be seen much sooner on regular cars we drive on the streets. But at the same time, that’s not to say some of the technology on display Saturday won’t find its way into IndyCar, NASCAR stock cars and other motorsports vehicles sometime in the future.
For the complete article on driverless Indy cars CLICK HERE.
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