Coders are pounding at keyboards, trying to rise victorious at the much-awaited Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL). A2RL is a self-driving race at Yas Marina Circuit on April 27. Thomas McCarthy, executive director of Aspire, organiser of the A2RL race. Additionally, he is also the programme management and business development pillar of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council. Mr. McCarthy had a detailed conversation with various media outlets on the future of self-driving vehicles and how this race may shape the future of that technology.
“Why we are doing it is because we want to put a big focus on road accidents. Over one million people are killed each year on the roads each year globally. It’s a number that remains stubbornly high.” said McCarthy. Eventually, He wants to create an impact on the design thinking of automobile manufacturers. The objective of this change will be to shift from “reactive safety or secondary safety” to “trying to stop the accident occurring in the first instance?” Mr McCarthy suggested the data collated in the creation of these self-driving cars would help identify, how to avoid possible accidents in the first place.
“The coders are the races!” exclaimed McCarthy. The basic structure and body of the vehicles remain the same for all 8 teams. Additionally, the teams are not allowed to make mechanical modifications to the car. The differences in the vehicles are in their code.
