Watch a Roborace self-driving race car crash right into a wall
During one of the first broadcast races, things didn't go so well.
Oops.
One of the first broadcast Roborace events didn't go quite as planned for one of the teams participating. Just as Acronis SIT's self-driving race car was set to take off from the starting line, it decided to bin itself straight into the wall. An expensive opportunity to learn and reflect.
Roborace is the world first driver-less/autonomous motorsports category.
— Ryan (@dogryan100) October 29, 2020
This is one of their first live-broadcasted events.
This was the second run.
It drove straight into a wall. pic.twitter.com/ss5R2YVRi3
Wednesday's broadcast on Twitch featured the self-driving race car from the Swiss institute and its partner Acronis, and, well, not much else after the car decided the wall was the correct trajectory. The rest of the broadcast after the team's crash largely featured commentary. The first half involved a lot of hype, but we also saw a prototype autonomous race car complete a lap around the Thruxton circuit in England, which is a massive accomplishment on its own.
But for those that wanted to see competition start to heat up, it didn't quite happen as planned. Roborace's goal is to usher in an era of self-driving motorsport, where teams compete based on their technological prowess, and not human drivers. Devbot 2.0 serves as the race car now, and features a cockpit for a human, but eventually, the plan is to ditch that style altogether for some really futuristic looking machines.
Hopefully, the next race goes better, but there's a reason Roborace calls this a "beta season."
