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AI driving real race cars, and just as much of a mess as you think it would be lol!
I think AI racing would be boring. Part of what makes racing exciting with things like unexpected overtakes or groundbreaking strategies is the human element. The driver in 1st makes a mistake that allows the driver in 2nd to overtake, or a driver pits seemingly too early which allows them to push further and end up gaining many positions, etc.
With AI, every “driver” weighs the same. The fuel level will be more or less the same. The optimal driving line will be the same. In just a few races, the AI race will have every car ending in the same position it started because the AI will only use the optimal choice for everything, which will lead to everything being the same. No race team is going to purposely program the vehicle AI to make mistakes. The rate and pressure of brakes and throttle application will be the same, turning speed and turning strength the same, etc.
At least with humans, the drivers have different weight, which gives more or less fuel allowance. Drivers can make mistakes on their driving line giving opportunity to drivers behind them to overtake. Each driver is different when it comes to being hard or easy on the brakes/throtttle. There is a lot of small variance that adds up to many opportunities for a race driver to change positions. Thats what makes racing interesting.
Honestly, why don’t we just have the racers in multi million dollar racing rigs remotely controlling the cars, that way they can get as ridiculous as they want with the rules and we keep the human factor with no risk
Pretty much DRL but with wheels. I’ve watched a few seasons but they tend to lose funding or whatever and don’t stick around for long. Plus with the driver not actually in the vehicle it loses something for me.
I think the risk helps keep them in check. They don’t drive so crazy and risk property damage of the cars and tracks so much if theyre physically inside the vehicle themselves. Otherwise they might be tempted to over-drive their vehicle and wreck it, costing their team money, the track for repairs, and potentially injuring spectators.
Yes, wrecks still happen, so long as humans are not perfect that is always a possibility. But I think eliminating the risk of injury from the driver for going a little too crazy would increase the potential for wrecks to occur.
Even with same weight/same tires/same everything, different teams will use different algorithms to control the car and to take decisions. There are a thousand ways to make a car follow an “optimal” path and I doubt everyone will use the same, and even if they do every team will have their own implementation which will lead to small differences.
Adding to that all the uncertainties brought by measurements of the outside world (correctly estimating where are the car and the other cars) and the possible interference between the different car’s sensors (if they run all at once like in real F1), we would certainly have surprises. Controlling a real car is not the same as controlling an AI in a video game, a lot of mistakes can be done.
Source: I work as an R&D engineer in an autonomous vehicles company
I think AI racing would be boring. Part of what makes racing exciting with things like unexpected overtakes or groundbreaking strategies is the human element. The driver in 1st makes a mistake that allows the driver in 2nd to overtake, or a driver pits seemingly too early which allows them to push further and end up gaining many positions, etc.
With AI, every “driver” weighs the same. The fuel level will be more or less the same. The optimal driving line will be the same. In just a few races, the AI race will have every car ending in the same position it started because the AI will only use the optimal choice for everything, which will lead to everything being the same. No race team is going to purposely program the vehicle AI to make mistakes. The rate and pressure of brakes and throttle application will be the same, turning speed and turning strength the same, etc.
At least with humans, the drivers have different weight, which gives more or less fuel allowance. Drivers can make mistakes on their driving line giving opportunity to drivers behind them to overtake. Each driver is different when it comes to being hard or easy on the brakes/throtttle. There is a lot of small variance that adds up to many opportunities for a race driver to change positions. Thats what makes racing interesting.
Honestly, why don’t we just have the racers in multi million dollar racing rigs remotely controlling the cars, that way they can get as ridiculous as they want with the rules and we keep the human factor with no risk
Pretty much DRL but with wheels. I’ve watched a few seasons but they tend to lose funding or whatever and don’t stick around for long. Plus with the driver not actually in the vehicle it loses something for me.
I think the risk helps keep them in check. They don’t drive so crazy and risk property damage of the cars and tracks so much if theyre physically inside the vehicle themselves. Otherwise they might be tempted to over-drive their vehicle and wreck it, costing their team money, the track for repairs, and potentially injuring spectators.
Yes, wrecks still happen, so long as humans are not perfect that is always a possibility. But I think eliminating the risk of injury from the driver for going a little too crazy would increase the potential for wrecks to occur.
Couldn’t agree more!!
I tend to disagree.
Even with same weight/same tires/same everything, different teams will use different algorithms to control the car and to take decisions. There are a thousand ways to make a car follow an “optimal” path and I doubt everyone will use the same, and even if they do every team will have their own implementation which will lead to small differences.
Adding to that all the uncertainties brought by measurements of the outside world (correctly estimating where are the car and the other cars) and the possible interference between the different car’s sensors (if they run all at once like in real F1), we would certainly have surprises. Controlling a real car is not the same as controlling an AI in a video game, a lot of mistakes can be done.
Source: I work as an R&D engineer in an autonomous vehicles company