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Yesterday, robotic race cars went around a Formula E circuit. One of them crashed. This raises a big question: If this is the future of racing, would you watch it?
For many, even the idea of Formula E is a hard pill to swallow. No engines? Is the roar of combustion approaching its demise? Surely by the time we’re up to... Formula R(obotic)? the audiences will dry up. Or will they?
You see, just yesterday, for the first time (we know of) an autonomous race car crashed. It just drove right into a barrier. Admittedly crashes are a big crowd pleaser but it doesn't exactly make for proper racing.
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It’s easy to see the detractors’ point of view. A big part of F1’s allure is the engineering prowess of the engines, the sound and the theatre, the suspense of human life hanging in the balance coupled with the fact that F1 really is a physical endurance sport for the drivers.
Roborace, the company behind the electric autonomous machines, reckons the excitement is in what programmers and engineers can make of the tools the autonomous cars will give them. Is that really enough to imbue true suspense into a silent, driverless racetrack? How about the chances of a crash? Does that just make it high-speed Robot Wars waiting to happen?
One certain benefit is the completely open design possibilities that the lack of a cockpit (and small electric motor) opens up. Just have a look at Roborace’s concepts. The form factor of race cars is likely to change forever.
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Plus with no human safety requirements, the speed these machines could potentially reach is hard to imagine.
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