Self driving cars and the impact on racing

Robots doing the driving will never catch on. People already complain about electronics, and we've already seen all of the high-end series dramatically cut back on what electronics are allowed. No one wants to watch to see who programmed the best software. Go turn on Forza and watch the computer play if that's what you want.

But the real problem is that racing relies on selling a bunch of vehicles, even though only a fraction of a percent will actually ever be used for racing. There is a reason we don't see the development of many "race only" bikes or cars -- and when we do, they are typically $$$. It's a lot easier to justify R&D costs when you can sell hundreds of thousands of units.

And that cost trickles down directly to racers, particularly amateur racers. What percentage of people buy used spares off ebay after some street squid binned his bike? Versus those buying brand new OEM parts for everything? Or even bought entire used bikes that started life as street bikes?

IMO this will hit the car racing community a lot harder first. The biggest car racing grids out west are Spec Miata and Spec E30 -- both cars that people can buy cheap as they're 20+ years old and there are a billion cheap spares available. Will there be an equivalent 20+ years after self-driving cars become ubiquitous?

Motorcycles will be safer for a bit longer simply because they are almost by definition an irrational form of transportation. There might even be an uptick in people buying them as weekend pleasure vehicles, since their weekday commuter will be a self-driving Prius.

 

Are you saying 20 year old ABS technology is too intrusive?

 

Didn't somebody do a study showing a driver/rider who practiced and learned how to brake could stop in a shorter distance without ABS?

 

I think so, that sounds right. But for the average driver, not to mention the below average driver, it's a great system.

Would anyone honestly buy a non-track car or truck that was new for 2016 that didn't have ABS? I mean unless you just wanna look all hard and tell everyone how you "don't need that shit", etc.

 

I wish I could buy a new 2016 car. Crap, I wish I owned a car made in this century.

 

I would hope a bunch of people could out brake an ABS equipped vehicle. It's actual purpose isn't to decrease stopping distance, it's to allow steering control while braking on less than perfect surfaces.

 

Could be coming sooner than you think.....


http://www.gizmag.com/roborace-driverless-electric-motor-racing-championship/40626/

 

We still race horses but do I ride Mister Ed to school? no

 

Don;t be dull mate, Make it happen ha ha

 

Most of the surfaces in the northern half of the country are just that - less than perfect. That holds true even when the weather is good. Most of those tests were on perfect pavement in ideal conditions or the human was allowed multiple runs to get a feel for the conditions to beat the ABS. If you live in the desert southwest or other areas with little rain and near perfect roads, then maybe you don't need ABS. On the other hand on that day that it does rain and all of the oil comes to the surface you might just REALLY need it.

 

The future of racing will be who has the best engineers. Drivers will not matter anymore, well because they will be the weakest link.

 

F1 has been like that for ages...

 

We are all living in the twilight of motor sport. I dont think any form of it will exist in 50 years.

 

It could be like Real Steel, where the future of racing is remote control (like the fighting robots). People love action and crashes...but don't like hearing/seeing about injuries and fatalities. So the easiest solution is to remove the humans from the equation.

 

I agree but to me that is like watching children play with a slot car track. Just not interesting.

 

Well funny that you mention that....

I got this for my son for Xmas....it's basically the new form of slot car racing... It's a lot more interactive and it's pretty impressive.

http://www.polygon.com/2015/10/14/9...toy-that-wants-to-replace-slot-cars-and-mario

 

that is cool. I think you just sold another one.

 

I think people don't like seeing the racers get hurt but the paradox is that they are attracted to racing partly because it is dangerous. They just want to see racers get away with it. So I think racing without racers would be very unappealing to most fans.

 

True.

Except for me, because robots are fucking awesome. I would love to watch it, as long as I could use the remote and pilot the robot.