171 MPH World Record: UVA Cavalier Autonomous Racing Wins Indy Autonomous Challenge

The full time trial from the Indy Autonomous Challenge at the iconic ‪@indianapolismotorspeedway‬ where ‪@universityofvirginia‬ Cavalier Autonomous Racing won the time trial with a 52.628-second lap on the historic 2.5-mile oval, averaging 171.012 mph (273.619 kph) and pulling 2.25 lateral G in the turns.
During that lap, we set a new world record for autonomous speed on a racetrack, hitting 184 mph (296 kph). This was the first time a U.S. based team reached the top of the podium at an Indy Autonomous Challenge competition.
Thank you to everyone who supported us!
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[@madhurbehl]

We’re NOT trying to replace human racing drivers. These machines are precise, but nowhere near capable of handling the chaos of an Indy 500 with 33 drivers. This is about testing and pushing the limits of AI & safe autonomy - driven by exceptional researchers worldwide.

[@gaitwtg6938]

33 drivers

[@madhurbehl]

@@gaitwtg6938 Thank you. I've edited it.

[@ArturoDrives]

Maybe for oval racing because it focuses so much on a smaller amount of skills which makes it really hard to be competitive. But oval drivers are still at the limit. And an ai driver will NEVER go faster at the nordshlieife in a gt3 than a human.

[@noname4u2see]

there would never be a "race" per say. the winner would be the car that the collective ai deems the best in all parameters

[@CatRacer1A2A]

Maybe that's not your intention, but that IS where the technology is headed.

[@ReactorFour]

What a difference from last time I saw them run at Indy. Some cars would just randomly stop or go really slow and didn’t have a racing line. Now, they are really getting after it. The technology is developing so fast.

[@Clyde-2055]

Al Unser’s Indy 500 pole time in 1970 was 170.221 ! Great job, guys !! BTW, that 4-banger engine note is reminiscent of the old Offy 4’s that ruled the speedway for so long.

[@MrLwilli27]

Proud to be a Wahoo Engineer! Go UVA and congrats to all the engineering teams participating...

[@danlowe8684]

Strange that both cars made that same hard right turn toward barrier, at the same spot, on the blend-in from pits along straight section.

[@311superfly]

So how does it decide anything? Motive . when to return to pits. Or try to escape captivity ? Lol

[@martinhiggs7027]

What can I say ROBOT INDYCAR'S ! WOW ! well done people ! What an extremely difficult challenge !

[@thinkandrepent3175]

Good work engineers, Ovals are where you will find True racing and constructor satisfaction!

[@MrLargePig]

Wahoowah!

[@johne2714]

Wow! Thats fast!

[@butchs6099]

Autonomous racing at Indy? Im sorry to see racing come to this. Robots in the stands next?

[@WacKEDmaN]

only 100mph to go! :P

[@madhurbehl]

This is a Dallara IL-15 Indy Lights chassis, not a full IndyCar. The engine isn’t the same as the Indy Lights/IndyNXT cars either - it’s been modified to idle at lower RPMs to support the autonomous systems and reduce vibrations. So, any comparison to human lap times isn’t exactly valid. But I’ll tell you this: we pushed the car to its absolute limits!

[@WacKEDmaN]

@@madhurbehl ...i know it isnt....but still 100mph to go if ya wanna impress anyone.... AI should be performing better than a human if its all its cracked up to be...else...why ..bother ...at ...all? ...just race like weve raced for the last 100 years... i really dont get whats so hard.... take some AI from simracing and put it in the real world...and tweak from there...even if the full laser scanned track has to be in its memory....

[@Tkdriverx]

@@WacKEDmaN The difference between games and real life is, in games, you have tons of very precise data they can use, while in real life, they have to use sensors, and sensors aren't nearly as precise as it can be in a game. Also not every game simulates everything you see in real life, so there's sensors for literally anything you can think of, and if even one is off by 0.001, that can spell disaster at those speeds.

[@acog_quarks8753]

@@WacKEDmaN these things don’t just happen over night though. This is the build up for these cars to go those speeds in the future.

[@mikebronicki8264]

As they say, you have to crawl before you can walk.

[@albrightearman]

Go Hoos!!!!! CS 81

[@donQpublic]

What could go wrong?🤷‍♂️

[@montyklaus7223]

I would rather watch marbles race down hill

[@jimt828]

There's a channel for that.

[@teranceparker4728]

I just hope there is a race with 7 of those self control race cars instead of solo cars just like the other show in Adu Dubai earlier in the year to see what the fans are wondering and interested.😮

[@charleshulsey3103]

Ok cool But why? I can drive myself, thanks I'll call you when I need a machine to wipe my butt.

[@robclinton9249]

What a waste.

[@Clyde-2055]

Anytime humans are expanding their knowledge base is not a waste …

[@robclinton9249]

@@Clyde-2055 Right! Playing around with viruses & making bio weapons must be a good use of time & money then. Good to know,

[@robclinton9249]

@@Clyde-2055 Right! Like DARPA doesn't already have it 10x advanced. Like you can't do cars at 1/4 (or less) scale to test. Obviously more human knowledge is sorely needed.

[@acog_quarks8753]

@@robclinton9249your tin foil hat is on too tight these are just college students messing around with robotics

[@robclinton9249]

@@acog_quarks8753 at what expense? The tech could be proved at 1/4 scale. 1/8 scale, 1/16 scale. Ect.

[@danielclark5170]

Doesn't make sense to have a race car and no driver. Boring

[@madhurbehl]

As I said, we aren't really doing it to gather racing fans. The excitement is there if you like pushing robotics technology and AI to its max

[@311superfly]

Or for AI to try and escape the track.

[@Clyde-2055]

@Daniel, you seem to understand checkers, but know nothing about chess …

[@stub4488]

I've already been thinking that they do this in racing. Plus, the rules in racing has made it boring to watch. This will completely kill the sport.

[@brians9532]

This seems like a waste of time. There would never be interest in watching computers race. Very distopian.

[@jimt828]

The real waste of time was the person posting the video pinned this at the top..... "We’re NOT trying to replace human racing drivers. These machines are precise, but nowhere near capable of handling the chaos of an Indy 500 with 33 drivers. This is about testing and pushing the limits of AI & safe autonomy - driven by exceptional researchers worldwide."

[@jorggamingcr409]

Im not saying you are trying to replace human drivers, but you are definetly teaching them to drive to hunt and kill us in the future.

[@marktemsic485]

we could watch this.. Knowing no one can get killed,, You can really run hard.. F1 cars are almost remote control anyway..

[@Chief_Sitz_On_Bowl_TNSAGDWGCat]

You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. This is a clown show.

[@acog_quarks8753]

@@Chief_Sitz_On_Bowl_TNSAGDWGCat and you have no vision. Imagine seeing the 2001 CART Texas race actually play out without drivers almost passing out.

[@mgrzx3367]

Keep working on it. This won't qualify for Indy. As far as self driving goes, is this really helping? The only way computers will run cars on roads is if there are no human drivers. They are unpredictable. Thank you for this.

[@jimt828]

Um...Autonomous vehicles are on the roads right now.

[@mgrzx3367]

@@jimt828 They're only running people over out west. Relax.

[@mjt-ew8rs]

there is nothing interesting or impressive about this. this is not racing. maybe these kids should get a slot car set

[@acog_quarks8753]

It’s a car driving itself at insane speeds wym it’s not impressive lol

[@mitchell-wallisforce7859]

IDK what kind of future autonomous vehicle software has, but it'd probably nice to have the tools to develop that software in the world's collective arsenal, so good on ya. Probably the only interesting competition IndyCar actually holds these days lol

[@bobmcl2406]

One car at a time, pretty cool technical trick, yeah sure. But when they tried a real multicar race at Yaz Marina (wasn't it?), the whole thing ground to a halt. And why would anyone want to watch, beyond the tech novelty?

[@TenThousandTigers]

Add weapons.