Skip to main content

This is Roborace’s insane autonomous race car

Roborace concept car
Roborace aims to be the first racing series for autonomous cars, but seeing as there aren’t many of those around that are built for racing, series organizers are creating their own. But what exactly does a driverless race car look like?

Pretty cool, it seems. Roborace called on Daniel Simon, the vehicle concept designer for Tron: Legacy, to create a concept robotic racer, and the result looks fairly good. With a sleek fuselage and wing-like fenders, it looks like it would be right at home in the computer world Simon helped design for the Tron sequel.

Related Videos

Roborace didn’t release any specifications for the car, but we’re pretty sure it will be all electric. The series is being organized under the Aegis of Formula E, which races electric cars exclusively, after all. Interestingly, there aren’t any adjustable aerodynamic features, giving teams one less variable to tweak for better performance, notes Autoblog.

Formula E wants to launch Roborace as a support series sometime during the next year or so. Races will be warmup acts to the main Formula E races, and will use the same temporary street circuits. Each race will last one hour, with 10 teams each entering two cars. All cars will be identical in order to level the playing field.

Exactly how the races will be run remains unclear. If the cars are truly autonomous, then they’ll simply be turned loose when the green flag drops, and even the teams will basically be spectators. Audi built a pair of autonomous RS 7 prototypes that can “learn” tracks and turn hot laps, so that kind of thing is possible.

On the other hand, Roborace’s website says the series will “bring together technology, gaming, and motorsport,” implying that there may be some form of remote driver control. We’ll find out whenever the first robotic grand prix is held. 

Editors' Recommendations

Aska’s ludicrous SUV-sized flying car gets closer to reality at CES 2023
The Aska A5 flying car drives across a bridge with its rotor arms folded up for storage.

In a field of high-tech cars as crowded as CES 2023, it takes a lot to stand out, but the Aska A5 does one trick not even the wildest Mercedes can compete with: It flies.

On Wednesday, the Silicon Valley upstart unveiled the first fully functional prototype of the A5, an electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (eVTOL) that the company claims will hit both roads and skies in 2026. Previously, it has only demonstrated a small-scale prototype.

Read more
VW previews its next electric car in trippy camouflaged form
Front three quarter view of a camouflaged Volkswagen ID.7 prototype.

The Volkswagen ID.7 is VW's next electric car, and while it won't be fully revealed until later in the year, the automaker provided a sneak peek at CES 2023.

VW said the production ID.7, which will be revealed in the second quarter of this year, will be influenced by the ID.Aero concept first shown in China in 2022. The camouflaged prototype VW brought to CES has the same general shape as the ID.Aero. It's a streamlined sedan that VW claims will have up to 435 miles of range as measured on the somewhat lenient European WLTP testing cycle.

Read more
How to charge your electric car at home
apple maps to get new ev feature eliminate range anxiety close up of the hybrid car electric charger station with power suppl

One of the biggest perks to owning an electric car is charging it in the comfort of your own home, rather than requiring stops at a gas station every week or so. That means that if you stay on top of charging, and don’t take super long trips, you’ll never really have to worry about when and where to "fill up."

But there are a number of ways to charge up at home, and they’re not all for everyone. In fact, some options are far better than others — and getting the right charging gear for your needs is definitely worth doing.

Read more