Robocar

If this press information had been released tomorrow I would say for sure it is an April Fool’s joke. But today is March 31st and the folks over at Robocar have announced their new project which is a robotic race car.

While at first I laughed at the idea of a driverless race car, I think it may actually make sense. Now from a motorsports fan stand point the beauty of the sport is the teaming up of man and machine, but there is another element at stake in racing.

Competitive driving is where many new technologies are perfected and later applied to street cars. With more manufactures working on driverless cars, a robotic race car does make some sense. Just as Formula E is useful for the further development of all-electric cars, a possible autonomous car series could have some value in the future.

Daniel Simon, chief design officer at Robocar, said: “We’re living in a time where the once separated worlds of the automobile and artificial intelligence collide with unstoppable force. It’s fantastic to be part of this journey; it triggers all my big passions – motor racing, design and advanced technologies. My goal was to create a vehicle that takes full advantage of the unusual opportunities of having no driver without ever compromising on beauty. Racingengineers and aerodynamicists have worked with me from the beginning to strike that balance. The Roborace is as much about competition as it is entertainment. Therefore – and quite unusual in today’s racing world – beauty was very high on our agenda and we work hard to merge the best performance with stunning styling. It was important to us that we generate substantial downforce without unnecessary parts cluttering the car to maintain a clean and iconic look. This is largely made possible by using the floor as the main aerodynamic device and we are currently developingactive body parts that are more organic and seamless than solutions today. I am excited to be part of the daring team of people who are making this happen.”

Denis Sverdlov, CEO of Roborace, said: “We are honoured to have Daniel working with us on this project as chief design officer. His passion and experience are undeniable and I believe it’s already set to be one of the most iconic vehicles in automotive history. We nicknamed the competition the ‘global championship of intelligence’ as an open challenge to the world’s smartest minds, so its only fitting that the car should be one of the smartest ever to be made, thanks to Daniel it may also be the most beautiful car ever to touch a road surface. It’s gaming, motorsport, technology and entertainment all rolled into one. I passionately believe that the future of cars is about software; driverless, electric and connected and Roborace will help to make that a reality.”

The new technology will be demonstrated along side the Formula E racing series in the 2016 / 2017 season. If you get a chance to go to a race, make sure to check out the Roborace vehicle as it shows what may be the future of cars (and if you saw iRobot that may just scare you the least little bit).