A worthy challenge for a robot racer.
If you're into classic cars, you'll be familiar with the annual 1000 Miglia endurance race: a week-long open road rally event in Italy strictly for vintage automobiles. The organization heading the event has made it a bit easier to get a verified car nowadays, but in some instances, the 1000 Miglia Village does get some special participants that are out of the box.
This time around, a Maserati MC20 Cielo has entered the 1000 Miglia with a self-driving system, making it the first self-driving vehicle to enter the 1,000-mile-long race. Like Jeep's forthcoming autonomous off-roading technology, an artificial intelligence-driven racer participating in an open-road event like this is a huge milestone for mobility technology.
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The self-driving Maserati is programmed to keep track of Italian highway rules. It will then drive the entire route of the race in autonomous mode through roads that are actually occupied by the road-going public. Sounds sketchy, but the AI driver does get some help in the form of a real human.
For that, Matteo Marzotto steps in as the AI pilot's co-driver. For his day job, he's an entrepreneur, but he's also an experienced racer who's had dozens of runs through the historic 1000 Miglia. The man is also the nephew of Giannino Marzotto, a driver who emerged victorious in the very same race 70 years ago.
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So what does a robot racer look like? Well, the photos show that it sports several cameras and sensors that function as the self-driving car's eyes and ears – just like that robot taxi in San Francisco. We're also guessing that it gets some actuators for the artificial intelligence driver to control the vehicle directly. Other than that, the MC20 Cielo looks stock with some decals.
The autonomous MC20 Cielo was developed by Politecnico di Milano, one of the largest technical universities in Italy. It is officially dubbed the 1000 Miglia Autonomous Drive (MAD) project, developed in partnership with the race's organizing body. It aims to promote the use of autonomous vehicles while also increasing the technical skills of the Italian car industry with regard to sustainable technologies.
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Keyword: Maserati MC20 Cielo Takes On 1000 Miglia Endurance Race Without A Human Driver