This looks interesting, full size rc cars at IMS.....https://www.indianapolismotorspeedw...vCJp7fVFI6ch2bmDSNsXN7Nl4JYzmTH3rRxD4_2kuLA5k
"RC" stands for radio-controlled. Autonomous vehicles are not RC. One of my coworkers did a Darpa challenge back when it was for autonomous vehicles. They were hoping for finishing the course faster than running speed. Its amazing how far this stuff has come in such a short time.
Yeah it's just a self driving car on the track. Lyft allows you to order a self driving car in Vegas, it takes two guys in the front seats to operate the thing.
Depending on what they’ve programmed the cars to do in the event of a crash, this could be really interesting to watch.
I hope it's not just a parade of cars, but actual racing. Can the program take the car to the limit and deal with a bunch of variables like temp and wind changes, the aero from another car, shaded track? I wonder if they have done much 200 mph testing anywhere?
With the availability of sensors and processors being able to calculate those variables at such a high rate of speed, yes. Just depends on how much technology they are capable of using. The autonomous part takes the human element (fear) out of the equation. The only fear left now is destroying the machine.
It's a student project. Picture a bunch of 18-21 year olds building a car and set your expectations accordingly.
Ever watch a modern power loom at work? Absolutely perfect, fast, productive and boring. No skill what so ever in operating it other than a stop button. Is this what motor racing is to become?
So let us make it risky and interesting. The programmer/engineer has to ride in the vehicle, but has no ability to control any of it from the vehicle. He's just spam in a can along for the ride.
I think the cars will be hard to handle and we'll see some crashes. I think a human can race better. I don't think we are quite there yet to create a robot that can out-race us. How far will the robot go to out-race another robot?
With the availability of AI.. It could be interesting. The "driver" has to be able to override the system telling him/her that a specific pass or wait strategy does/doesn't have a specific success level. Hence the ability of a human to give 110% or make the car do something it should be physically capable of doing.
I'm looking forward to applause and cheering after every crash. Scud missle that zig-zags down the straight and uses the ass end of anything in front of it as the next target. Digity-digity process of elimination. If you think hard enough, the finish line might not be the top AI priority. Rubbin is Racin.
Its an international undergrad and grad student project with a $1 million purse. I don't even think the various SAE "student" competitions have that kind of purse. Here's one of the largest/winningest SAE teams. Given the purse, I expect larger/better than even this team. Well, I also expect this team to compete assuming the pandemic doesn't stop them. https://www.monashmotorsport.com Also, the teams aren't making the car.
Sorry, too much seat of the pants "feel" needed to race bike/cars, especially as tires wear, fuel load changes, or weather changes. My .02 Maybe a 1 or 2 lap "flier" possible, but a race, nope.