It’s Coming

The day of the robotic car on the racetrack is here. The autonomous vehicles aren’t competitive yet, but it is only a matter of time before they start to show in winners’ circles. This will have a profound PR effect on the sport. Rather than drivers being the heros, attention will be deflected to pit crews and engineers.  They are the undercard in today’s sport– celebrated but not nearly as much as the human who steers the car. Will racing lose its luster with self-driving vehicles or will it adapt by using ever more difficult courses that software can’t handle well? Both outcomes are possible. The goal of robotic racing is to develop technology that can be used in street vehicles. That defines the history of motorsport. All that is old is new again.