roborace unveils ‘robocar’— the world’s first driverless electric race car

self-driving cars have been commonplace in the headlines during the past months, and so it’s no surprise that they are starting to make appearances on the race tracks. the latest AI masterpiece to be unveiled is the world’s first driverless electric racecar, shown by at mobile world congress yesterday in barcelona. the masterpiece has been long awaited, with the design concept and software revealved last year.

the ‘robocar’ was finally unveiled yesterday
photos courtesy of daniel simon/ roborace

aptly named the ‘robocar,’ roborace’s self-declared ‘car of the future’ has a nvidia supercomputer—the open AI computing platform capable of 24 trillion AI operations per second—for a brain. each car weighs 975 KG, is about 5 x 2 M wide, and sits very close to the track. four 300 KW motors—one for each wheel—drive the machine to speeds of up to 199 MPH. the ultra-smart vehicle is equipped with a multitute of sensors to process information, namely five LiDAR sensors, 18 ultrasonic sensors and six AI cameras. it also uses deep learning for a 360-degree situational awareness, which allows the car to determine exactly where it is and to create its trajectory. 

the self-driving vehicle can reach speeds of 199MPH

roborace designer daniel simon has also worked to create vehicles for hollywood sci-fi movies such as tron legacy and star wars, explaining the futuristic look and feel of the ‘robocar.’ announced back in 2015, roborace aims to be the ‘world’s first self-driving race series,’ and has already been testing two development versions of the ‘robocar’ at the last few formula E races. the company aims for the robocar to hit the track in just a few weeks time. 

the car uses nvidia’s drive PX2 brain

roborace have described their masterpiece as ‘the car of the future’

chief designer daniel simon has also designed sci-fi cars for star wars

roborace have already trialed their driverless cars in formula E races

the concept for ‘robocar’ was revealed in march 2016

roborace map out the design for their futuristic vehicle