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Formula E to feature autonomous car racing

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Re: Formula E to feature autonomous car racing

#3

I think this will be quite popular with those who like watching races for the crashes, but also don't want people to get injured.

Oh god there's going to be so many crashes... at first. Then it will catch up to EA's racing AI and become the first casualty in the war against skynet.

Re: Formula E to feature autonomous car racing

#4
post #3

I think this will be quite popular with those who like watching races for the crashes, but also don't want people to get injured.

Oh god there's going to be so many crashes... at first. Then it will catch up to EA's racing AI and become the first casualty in the war against skynet.

The spread of self driving vehicles (and even drones) is probably an 'accelerating returns' of some sort. Such context will act as a beautiful test bed for complex and limit cases. Unless the results end up locked it will backfire positively on in-society driving.

Re: Formula E to feature autonomous car racing

#5
Awesome!

Perhaps this could end up in a place where the focus is on the cars and the technical performance, rather than human driver skill. For those of us who are more interested in engineering challenges than the celebrity driver of the day.

Re: Formula E to feature autonomous car racing

#7
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh god there's going to be so many crashes... at first. Then it will catch up to EA's racing AI and become the first casualty in the war against skynet.

The spread of self driving vehicles (and even drones) is probably an 'accelerating returns' of some sort. Such context will act as a beautiful test bed for complex and limit cases. Unless the results end up locked it will backfire positively on in-society driving.

I would love to see a rule where the software that each team uses has to be open-sourced at the end of the season, both to ensure competitive parity between well funded and not-so-well-funded teams, and also to ensure that any breakthroughs spread quickly from the world of racing to the world of "normal" cars.

Re: Formula E to feature autonomous car racing

#8
post #5

Awesome! Perhaps this could end up in a place where the focus is on the cars and the technical performance, rather than human driver skill. For those of us who are more interested in engineering challenges than the celebrity driver of the day.

Current F1 is going that route where the drivers are more and more exchangeable because the tech has gotten so far and fans really don't like it and the sport is losing popularity and some would say soul.

While i would find autonomous racing exciting as well, it is not something the general public would be excited about.

Re: Formula E to feature autonomous car racing

#9
If it weren't for regulations, i am sure F1 would already be like this or close to it. Compared to public traffic, race tracks are quite easy to master for AI. They had active suspension systems and traction control in the early nineties where the driver was already reduced to mostly just pushing the pedal and steering but the FIA banned most of those driver aids because real human driving skill and error is just more exciting to the general public.

Re: Formula E to feature autonomous car racing

#10
post #9

If it weren't for regulations, i am sure F1 would already be like this or close to it. Compared to public traffic, race tracks are quite easy to master for AI. They had active suspension systems and traction control in the early nineties where the driver was already reduced to mostly just pushing the pedal and steering but the FIA banned most of those driver aids because real human driving skill and error is just mor…

Well yeah, it's not much of a sport if there's no one left driving.

(Some might say it's not much of a sport anyway, but it seems popular.)

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