The team of HUMDA Lab, a research institute belonging to the Széchenyi University Group, has been selected to participate in the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League, (A2RL) autonomous formula car competition, which is attended by teams from world-renowned universities and research centres. In this article we describe the journey to the competition, and in the next article we will share the results and lessons learned.
The Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL) will race autonomous formula cars that can sense their surroundings and race around the track without human assistance. The A2RL pushes the boundaries of future mobility by integrating artificial intelligence (AI), autonomy and extreme sports. The event could be one of the largest autonomous racing series in the world.
The race will take place at the legendary Yas Marina Circuit F1 circuit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, with Super Formula cars on 27th April 2024.
Two months of work before the competition
The HUMDA Lab team arrived in Abu Dhabi at the beginning of March to start their preparations for the A2RL competition. In the first phase with the TUM Motorsport Team we were the first to complete the shakedown test. Another milestone was the successful completion of the first lap of the Yas Marina circuit. At this stage of the work, all results and data were shared between the teams.
The final preparations started in early April, when we had our own car and strated to use our own software. We ran into a few technical problems during the preparation, but the team worked with the race mechanics assigned by the organisers and solve the problems.
We had the chance to work on a special autonomous racing car
Each participant was given exclusive access to a Dallara Super Formula SF23 race car, launched last year, which has been specially equipped for the A2RL with sensors, computers and actuators to enable it to race in autonomous mode.
The car is made from sustainable bio-composite materials, weighs 690 kg and has a top speed of 300 km/h, making it the fastest open-wheel racing car in the world after Formula 1. Each participant's car is mechanically and hardware the same, so it's up to the teams to adapt their software algorithms to this cutting-edge vehicle and compare their skills with the others.
We compete against the best with our autonomous technology
We are proud to be part of an elite club of the world's most prestigious research universities and institutes. Research on autonomous algorithms is a designated and high priority for HUMDA Lab, for which participation in A2RL is an excellent motivation.
The HUMDA Lab covers the areas of software development and machine learning as well as vehicle dynamics and motorsport. These have been put to the test in reference projects such as the autonomous F1Tenth races, or the Indy Autonomous Challenge simulation race series. The next step is A2RL.
During the eight weeks of preparation, it is not uncommon for the team to be on track from early morning until late at night, constantly working on the car and software to get everything ready for the race on 27th April. We are very excited about what the race will bring and our main goal is to keep our position as a rookie team, gaining as much data, experience and routine as possible in this environment.
Participants in the 2024 A2RL competition:
Eight elite teams from international universities and research institutes will compete in the autonomous car competition for a total prize of $2.25 million.
List of participants:
– Fly Eagle – Beijing Technology Institute and Khalifa University (China and United Arab Emirates)
– Code19 Racing (USA)
– Constructor University (Germany)
– Széchenyi University Group– HUMDA Lab (Hungary)
– Kinetiz – Nanyang Technology University (Singapur)
– Polimove Autonomous Racing – Politecnico di Milano (Italy)
– TUM Motorsport Team – Technical University of Munich (Germany)
– Unimore – University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy).
Read also our press release about the results of the competition.