TU Munich Race Team Secures Autonomous Racing League Title Again
TU Munich has succeeded for the second time in winning the Autonomous Racing League in Abu Dhabi.
(Image: A2RL)
The Racing Team of the Technical University of Munich (TU Munich) has once again clinched the title at the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL) with its vehicle controlled by artificial intelligence (AI). This was announced by TU Munich on Monday. The Munich-based team defeated five other teams in the final of the world's largest autonomous multi-car race.
A total of eleven teams from four nations competed in the A2RL in Abu Dhabi on the Yas Marina Circuit Formula 1 track. The TU Munich team already dominated the qualifying races and started from pole position in the decisive 20-lap race. However, the victory was not as clear-cut as it seemed. In the second lap of the race, the Unimore team from Italy took the lead. The two autonomous race cars then engaged in a thrilling race with gaps of less than a second at speeds exceeding 250 km/h.
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Unimore's victory was then thwarted by another German team, the previously sixth-placed Team Constructor, with whom the Italians collided during an overtaking attempt. Both cars went off the track, allowing the TUM racing team to take the lead and hold it until the finish. At least there was some consolation for the Unimore team: it won the prize for the fastest lap throughout the entire competition.
Race Against a Human Driver
TU Munich's autonomous vehicle “Hailey” then competed against former Formula 1 driver Daniil Kvyat. The AI-controlled vehicle had a ten-second head start in a flying start. Kvyat had ten laps to catch up to the vehicle. The lap times were sometimes very close, but ultimately with a happier ending for the human driver: Kvyat completed his fastest lap in 57.57 seconds, while Hailey's best lap was 59.15 seconds, making it only 1.58 seconds slower. In a previous race between Kvyat and an autonomous vehicle at the 2024 A2RL exhibition in Japan, the gap was a much larger ten seconds.
Several chairs work closely together at the TUM Racing Team. Involved are the Chair of Automotive Technology, the Chair of Control Engineering, and the Chair of Autonomous Vehicle Systems. Together, they developed algorithms for highly dynamic driving maneuvers, robust control systems, and AI-based strategies for operating the autonomous vehicle at its limits.
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TU Munich won the first A2RL in 2024 and has been successful in autonomous motorsport for several years, for example in the Indy Autonomous Challenge. The total prize money for the A2RL is 2.25 million US dollars.
(olb)
