Roborace has been working hard on the development of its driverless racing technology but a recent Devbot race didn’t quite go to plan.
During the course of the Buenos Aires ePrix running, Roborace made history with the first driverless car race on a street track in history.
Roborace plans to pit 10 teams against each other in an electric, driverless-car racing championship in the future.
So far, it’s been running Devbot cars – based on a Ginetta LMP3 chassis – to allow development of software and technology, before showing off its own ‘Robocar’.
Devbot 1 wins! Clocking a new new fastest lap at top speed of 186kph #BAePrix 🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/qBvT8iqLWZ
— Roborace (@roborace) February 18, 2017
It put two of its AI-controlled Devbots against each other in Argentina, but while it was a big step forward for Roborace, it didn’t quite go to plan.
Impressively, a dog getting onto the track was no problem for the Devbot cars and they were topping around 115mph during the race.
Who let the dogs out? We’ve always wanted obstacles in Roborace 😉 #BAePrix pic.twitter.com/jUOyLqnrie
— Roborace (@roborace) February 18, 2017
But with the early stage of technology and development, pushing AI to the limits was always going to lead to some problems.
During the head-to-head between the Devbots, the second of the two cars turned into a corner too sharply and hit the inside barrier.
It gave Devbot 1 the victory and will surely provide important data for Roborace to develop the software further, but it probably wasn’t how they expected things to end.
Papelón de un vehículo autónomo en Puerto Madero: el Roborace sin conductor chocó contra la estatua de Lola Mora
Más https://t.co/fEzjiYCJAM pic.twitter.com/8B3bufHJwX— Autoblog Argentina (@Autoblogcomar) February 18, 2017
No video was captured of the crash, but a few images have been shared on social media from people watching the Devbot race at the circuit.