Formula E has announced its intention to launch a global race series for driverless electric cars, called ROBORACE with the first race expected to take part in 2016/17.

FORMULA E HAS ANNOUNCED its intention to launch a driverless electric car series with the first race expected to take part in 2016/17. The new series will be called ROBORACE.

“ROBORACE is aimed to take place prior to each Formula E race, using the same circuits in major cities across the world. Ten teams, each with two driverless cars, will compete in one-hour races over the full championship season. All the teams will have the same cars however will compete using real-time computing algorithms and AI technologies,” Formula E said.

Denis Sverdlov, Founder of Kinetik and ROBORACE, said: “We passionately believe that, in the future, all of the world’s vehicles will be assisted by AI and powered by electricity, thus improving the environment and road safety. ROBORACE is a celebration of revolutionary technology and innovation that humanity has achieved in that area so far. It’s a global platform to show that robotic technologies and AI can co-exist with us in real life. Thus, anyone who is at the edge of this transformation now has a platform to show the advantages of their driverless solutions and this shall push the development of the technology.”

According to Formula E, ROBORACE will aim to support independent “talents” in the driverless and electric cars space, with one of the 10 teams crowd-sourced “community team open for enthusiastic software and technology experts all over the world”.

Further support for both Formula E and ROBORACE shall come from Charge, an automotive start-up founded by Kinetik that develops range-extended electric powertrains for commercial vehicles. Charge will become Official Truck Partner of the FIA Formula E Championship and will provide electric trucks for the drivers’ parade, towing trucks for emergency recovery of the racing cars.

Alejandro Agag, CEO of Formula E, said: “We are very excited to be partnering with Kinetik on what is surely one of the most cutting-edge sporting events in history. ROBORACE is an open challenge to the most innovative scientific and technology-focused companies in the world. It is very exciting to create a platform for them to showcase what they are capable of and I believe there is great potential for us to unearth the next big idea through the unique crowd-sourced contest.”

So, what do you think, will you watch robotic racing cars?