April 17, 2024 • 26 mins
In this special episode, we look back at some of our original predictions for 2023 as a way to reflect on where the world of autonomous racing and AI technology is in 2024. How do those predictions stack up to reality? Does what we know now about the integration with universities, industry, and government agencies match our original predictions? What more will we learn in the years to come?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
The world around us is changing faster than ever before.
Ideas once only imagined in science fiction are becoming a reality.
Throughout the course of our amazing twenty three episode season,
we'll speak to some of the greatest minds in robotics
and artificial intelligence to discuss the groundbreaking work that's fueling
it all. I'm your host, Ryan Marine, joined me and
my co host Paul Mitchell, the presidents of the Indian
(00:26):
Autonomous Challenge and see why we call this the inside Track.
Every year racing and automotive tech seems to become more advanced.
In this special episode, we'll examine this concept further by
revisiting our old twenty twenty three predictions. The question for
you listeners at home is this, how do our predictions
(00:47):
stack up to the reality of twenty twenty four. Does
what we know now about the integration with universities, industry
and government agencies match our original predictions? What more would
we learn in the years to come. It's now August
of twenty twenty three. It's been about eight months since
(01:08):
this project got started. My name is Ryan Marine. Paul
Mitchell from the India Autonomous Challenge joining us once again
to basically get an update, a status report on where
we are, and also at the end a little glimpse
into the future for the IAC as well. But I
think since the last time we sat down and really
gave a big tent overview of where this project stood,
(01:30):
we've had a lot of exciting things that have happened,
including a trip overseas.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
A couple trips overseas.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
So let's let folks know exactly what the IAC has
been up to here in the last few months.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
So after CS in January, we made this strategic decision
to pivot from having run exclusively on OVAL's to taking
on the new challenge of running on a road course.
And we announced in CS that we were going to
do that at Manza, the f one circuit in Europe
(02:01):
in Italy, and it's the oldest race track in Europe.
It's arguably the oldest circuit for a road course in
the world. And you know, I think we were excited
to make that announcement, but didn't really know what we
were getting ourselves into. So we had never taken these
cars overseas, we had never we had no resources on
the ground in Europe or in Italy. We have some
(02:24):
teams that are over there, so that was a help.
But so there was a lot of learning for the
organization of just like what it means to bring a
motorsports operation overseas. It's a lot of work, but also
was just a tremendous amount of fun and exciting for
the teams, exciting for sponsors. Because we made the decision
(02:45):
to go there so late in the game, we were
really limited in our practice times, so we had to
work around the tracks schedule, which meant we got the
cars over there in April, so only a couple months
after CS before they were loaded up, sent them over
there by airplane, which is expensive endeavor but go complicated too,
(03:08):
and complicated, Yeah, got them all to Monza, and thanks
to the people in Monza and the organization MEMO, which
is the Milan Manza Motor Show organization that we have
our partnership with, they were so accommodating. They opened up
a facility right on the grounds there that had a
small garage and some office space that we were able
to store the cars and work out of, and then
(03:30):
they basically helped us build a schedule to try to
get as close as we could to about eight practice days,
but it involved us having to do some evening sessions,
so we would go out after the client was done
and we'd go on the track from like six thirty
till nine o'clock, or in some cases we had morning
sessions where we go in very early, and you know,
(03:52):
it was it was like a totally different experience for
our AI drivers, you know, to try to figure out
this challenge of a road course. So you know, we're
used to going to an oval and maybe by the
end of the first day our cars are up at
one hundred and fifty one hundred and sixty miles an hour.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
It took several practices several.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Days before the cars were really able to get up
even to one hundred miles an hour because they were
trying to figure out this whole new challenge of turning
right and left. The other thing we encountered was the
fact that road courses, in particular at Manza, you've got
bridges and trees and other structures that create these dead
(04:37):
zones for GPS connectivity, and so it took a while
for the teams to sort of change their algorithms to
be less sensitive to drop offs in GPS, which is
actually from a technological standpoint, really important learning and R
and D for these universities and for our sponsors to
figure out. But it's a little nerve racking because every
(04:58):
time a car would go under a a bridge, you know,
the car would start wobbling in some cases come to
a stop. But by the end, you know, we had
we made history again. We had cars that were you know,
reaching one hundred and seventy miles an hour. You know,
our top top lap was two minutes and five seconds,
which is you know, not on par with the top
(05:19):
F one or I guess our car is probably closer
to like an F three car, but not that far
off if you think about the horsepower trade off and
aerodynamic trade off. So it was it was a respectable,
respectable runs that several of our teams were able to
achieve by the end of the of the time.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
There the ingenuity of these college students, it never ceases
to amaze.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
You know.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
One dynamic I think is super interesting. If we go
back to the early days of the IAC, it was
a lot of European institutions coming over, embedding themselves in
the United States and maybe having some homesickness being away
from friends and family, and the American teams being there
to support them. I imagine the shoe was on the
other foot when we went over.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
To it was so we had we had. It was
just one US team that went.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
We had two that were planning to go, and unfortunately
at the last minute the team AI Tech Racing led
by University of Hawaii, for a variety of reasons.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Had had to pull out.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
But the midpitr W team was over there from the
beginning to the end. They had people in country. They
did some trade off, people would.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Go home and come back.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
It wasn't quite as dramatic as the summer of twenty
twenty one when people came over here and they couldn't
go back because of COVID. They had to stay here
literally the whole time. But yeah, no, they got exposed
to the European culture and way of life and the
teams that are based there. Of course, Mon's is very
close to the Polytechnic and Milanos, so that team was
kind of the home team, the host team, if you will,
(06:50):
for ic for our operations. We had staff that were
there from April until July.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
I think most of them enjoyed it. It's not a.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Bad place to spend your to spend your summer, and
we did get some help from from local vendors and
local partners. We had some interns that were graduate students
at Polytechnic in Milano. We had some staff from the
milanmans A Motor Show. The people at the Mandsa track
were just incredibly generous with their time and support. But yeah, no,
(07:21):
it was definitely kind of this multicultural experience and it
it just is a symbol of the fact that Indy
Autonomous Challenge is a global activity and it made sense
for us to go to Europe. That's where we have
some of our top teams, and we've had a big
following in Italy. They've been following us there, not just
because of the success of the Italian teams, but I
(07:42):
think in general the motorsports community there is quite interested
in technology and cars. You know, they seem to be
bigger fans of Ferrari than they are of any particular driver, right,
so it's not as much of a change for them
to get excited about a car that doesn't have a
driver in it. And we saw that the general public
was very very positive. We had families with kids and
(08:05):
multiple generations coming into the garage during the three days
of the Milan Mons of Motor Show. Wanted to see
the cars, wanted to meet the teams. It's first time
I saw people asking team teams for autographs.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Which is interesting. Oh how cool.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yeah, usually little kids that sort of looked up to
these students as you know, stem superstars, which they are,
which was kind of kind of neat. And the last
day of our competition, which was a time trial competition only,
so in our first year we didn't attempt overtaking and
passing like we do on ovals.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
We limited it to just time trials.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
But the last day of the time trials was actually
pretty compelling that the top three teams were separated only
by about nine seconds in their lap time. And we
had about twelve thousand people that came and sat in
the grand stands to watch the final three runs. Now,
they were there for the broader Milan Mons of Motors Show,
(09:00):
but they were choosing to forego other things on the
grounds and come in and sit and watch. It was
it was really, you know, for us, the first time
we've had a big crowd like that that was cheering
and excited about about the race, which was a lot
of fun.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
And that's of course an iconic venue there at Monza,
and also the IIC was involved in another iconic motorsports
event in the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
We did, we did.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
It was a decision we made after CEES when we
knew that the cars were going over to Monza. We
had had this previous dialogue with Goodwood about bringing a
car there to participate in their Future Lab exhibition, which
is a curated kind of sort of like a museum
exhibition where they showcase cutting edge technology in automotive and mobility.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
So they wanted to put one of our.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Cars in Future Lab and we said okay, but we
also want to do a map, an autonomous map of
the hill climb, right, so we have the POTENTI to
come back next year and actually do an autonomous hill climb,
and they were all for it, so they allowed us
two of our cars, two of our teams it was
actually the Technical University of Munich team and then the
(10:12):
Midpit r W team which had been in Europe from
the Mons event, and we brought those two cars and
the Saturday before Goodwood when they basically had the hill
climb set up, but before all the festivities had started
they let us do some very low speed kind of
test runs to basically map the course so we can
(10:34):
begin modeling and preparing for a hill climb run next year.
So it was done on the down low, wasn't really
a publicized activity. The reception of the car inside the
Future Lab was really outstanding, and I think we're excited
to go back in twenty twenty four and see if
we can't set a record for an autonomous hill climb.
(10:56):
I don't think we'll reach the speeds that the world
records are set there on a pretty regular basis for
human driven vehicles, but fingers crossed, we can get there
for an autonomous vehicle and at least throw up a
respectable time.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Exactly the presence that you've had in the US, starting
with an event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a couple
events at CES plus one at Texas Motor Speedway, do
you feel like here Stateside, at least you kind of
reached the audience that you were going to reach. And
with that in mind, how important then is it to
branch out, take this technology to Europe and showcase it
(11:32):
to a new set of eyes, a new set of
interested spectators that might not have heard about this otherwise.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
I mean, I think it's a reflection of the fact
that the automotive industry is so global, the autonomous mobility
industry is perhaps even more global. You have companies in Europe,
in Asia, and the United States that are all racing
towards this strategic challenge of of autonomous mobility, or at
(12:03):
least let's say level four autonomous mobility, so so still
maybe a human in the loop, maybe a driver behind
the wheel that can take over, but providing a lot
of those safety systems and and you know, to just
show it in the United States, you know, you're you're
missing kind of two thirds of the of the industry
(12:25):
and of the talent that's needed to bring this technology.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
To the to the to the real world.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
You know, we have these international universities that are involved.
I think it's important that we acknowledge their participation by
kind of rewarding them with events in their in their backyards. Clearly,
the European universities were thrilled.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
To be there.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
They showed up with big crowds and big groups, the
way our US universities do when when events are held
here in the United States.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
And I also think it's a reflection.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Of the level of of interest and support from government. So,
you know, Indian Autonomous Challenge would not exist without the
support of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and brought more
broadly the state of Indiana. When we decided to go
over to Europe to Manza, we knew we needed the
support of the local government there and so we built
up a relationship together with the Indian Economic Development Corporation,
(13:21):
with the region of Lombardy, which is essentially the state
where Milan is the capital of the state within Italy,
and it's a big part of the Italian economy. It's
where a lot of the heavy industry and automotive centers
of excellence are and so you know, we had meetings
with government leaders in Lombardia. There was a delegation that
(13:44):
went over from the United States from the state of Indiana,
and you know, we have whether we go there or
not in the new yor term, I don't know, but
we have a team in Korea. There's a lot of
strong linkages between Indiana and Korea as well, and I
think using India Autonomous Challenge to reach out to the
broader audience the industry, but also these government to government
(14:07):
connections that we know are needed because the regulatory environment
and the government is going to have to be one
of the key players in ushering in this future of
autonomous mobility and understanding kind of what the rules and
regulations need to be for that technology.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Well, that gives us a little glimpse into the future.
So let's use that as a jumping off point. What
does the next twelve to eighteen months look like for
the Indy Autonomous Challenge.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
So twenty twenty four is going to be a banner
year for India Autonomous Challenge. I think if you look
at our history for the last two to three years,
it's really been this journey into the unknown where we're
trying something new and different and you don't exactly know
what the results are going to be. For twenty four,
we're taking the approach of saying, Okay, how do we
(14:58):
put all these capabilities together into a series of events
that are highly compelling from a technology innovation standpoint, but
also a catalyst for bringing industry, government and academia together
and really celebrate what we've achieved. And to do that,
we've got a pretty aggressive schedule. It's going to start
(15:20):
with CS in January, so we'll be back there.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
We love CEES.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
It's such a perfect fit for our activity. The teams
love being there. Of course, the sponsors are generally all
there anyways. The media is there, so you know, what
we're going to be doing this year at CES is
debuting sort of the new car, the AV twenty four,
which will still look similar to the cars that people
(15:45):
are familiar with, but the tech inside the car will
be almost completely updated, so the most cutting edge technology.
And I'll leave the details and the bits and pieces
about what's going to be different until we're able to
talk about it more publicly, but needless to say, you know,
we're going to have the most advanced autonomous race car
(16:08):
in the world, and it is a significant improvement on
the current vehicle in terms of capabilities, processing power, sensor capabilities,
drive by wire, et cetera. A lot of it is
improvements that we realize are needed to take this kind
of product to the next level that we've learned through
thousands and thousands of miles of high speed autonomous operations.
(16:32):
We are the only organization in the world that has
been running these autonomous vehicles year after year, thousands of
miles and you learn a lot through that process. So
we have the improved car that'll be debuted at CES.
We'll still have the legacy cars there running in a
passing competition, but we will showcase at the CS the
(16:53):
new vehicle. Then after CES, all of the cars will
be transformed into this AV twenty four platform and we'll
be headed back to Europe for a race at Monza.
Extremely excited. This time. We plan to have passing as
part of the competition. We haven't settled quite on the
(17:14):
rule set, but we have this unique partnership that we
established this year with ACI, the Automobile Club of Italia,
which is sort of the FIA for Italy, which granted
us the world's first AI motorsports driver's licenses for our
teams and sanctioned our time trial competition. So we're going
to work with them to craft a rule set that
(17:38):
really is the next iteration of autonomous motorsport. So we're
excited about that. That looks like that'll be sometime at
late June as part of the MILANMNSA Motor Show. Then
the cars will go to Goodwood, probably not all the teams,
but maybe two or three teams to attempt the hill climb,
(18:00):
hopefully set a world record there for an autonomous hill climb.
Cars will come back to the US and we'll return
to the where it all began at the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway at the end of the summer early fall time
frame for an oval competition. What's really cool is that
we're planning to link the Monsa event and the Indiapolis
(18:22):
Motor Speedway event as sort of a two.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Phased Race of two Worlds.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
And so for people that are students of motorsport and
no history of motorsport, they'll know that in nineteen fifty
seven nineteen fifty eight, you have this Race of two
Worlds branded event that was held at Monza at that
time on an oval that is kind of still partially
intact but not utilized for races, and you had US
(18:49):
Indy Car indy five hundred drivers at the time racing
against Formula one drivers. It's really the only time that
they went head to head in a direct competition. I
think the Car or eighty five hundred drivers won both years. Yes,
and the legend is that the Formula One drivers were
supposed to come back to the US to reciprocate and
(19:10):
participate in the NDY five hundred or some type of
race at the at the Indianapolis Motor Speakway. Of course,
that didn't happen, So we're trying to sort of bring
that history back and say, this is a modern race
of two worlds showcasing this new technology at Monza at
the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and we'll find some really cool
ways to connect those events. So perhaps the winner has
(19:31):
to has to do the best or score points in
both stages of the competition, and uh, you know, I think,
I think, you know, it would be really cool to
see the historical connections there and frankly reach a broader
audience by by showcasing these vehicles in Europe and then
(19:52):
in the United States in a in a competitive manner.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
So cool to link probably the two most iconic motorsports
venues on the planet.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
In definitely the two oldest I think, you know, motor speedways,
the oldest. MONS is really the second oldest from a
fully operational track. I think MONS host is hosted the
most Formula One races in a row.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
You know.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
India of course is the oldest ongoing race with the
D five hundred, and frankly the fact that we get
to run on a road course in an oval is
really cool.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Throw a little hill climb in there for that's right.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
So it's so it's it's this sort of back to
the future year where we're taking this purely modern you know,
AI driven technology and showcasing it at these historic venues
in Europe and in the United States. You know, maybe
maybe the last thing that it is figure out how
to throw in the Pike's Peak at some point, But
(20:46):
otherwise I think we've got We've got a really exciting
year next year. And as I said, the goal is
not just to run these events as as one off events,
but to find a way to use them to catalyze
the interest and the aware earnest of technology, innovation, talent development,
government collaboration with industry and academia.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
And so as we get.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Closer to these events, will roll out a whole series
of activities that will happen at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
together with the State of Indiana and the indian Ecadomic
Filment Corporation, that will happen at Mansa together with the
Region of Flambardia and the Milan Monsa Motor Show. So
that the on track activities will certainly be the highlight,
(21:30):
but there'll be lots of other ways for companies, for entrepreneurs,
for innovators to engage and network and collaborate around these events.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
If we go back to twenty twenty one, there might
have been a perception that it was a one off
stunt at.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
But with plans like these, I think any ocean of
that sort has been thoroughly put to bed.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Yeah, well, you know, they wouldn't be wrong.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
I mean, I think the original thesis was this is
a prize competition. You run a prize competition to see
what happens and see if somebody can achieve the goal
or the objective.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
You know, in all honesty, we.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Didn't hit the original objective, which is a ten car
race of twenty laps at the Annapolosmotor Speedway, and we
adjusted the rule set to make it still very much
a stretch goal for this technology and where it is today.
But you know, we'll see how the rule set changes
(22:29):
for our event at IMS next year. I don't want
to predispose where we're going to be, but I think
we're going to be much closer to that original vision
than maybe people think we are, and so I'm very
excited to see that by the end of twenty twenty four,
I think we'll have a product that, you.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Know, starts to become more.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Race worthy, if you will, of putting on a motorsports
race or competition that, while not trying to replace or
even compete with human drivers, you know, can earn the
respect of those that are you know, purest when it
comes to you know, motorsports and what they expect to
see at a motorsports race.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
What was closed with this? Then you've had a little
bit of time, perhaps to reflect on just how far
this project has come. I mean, you were quite forthright
just a moment ago about what the goals were initially,
and it's remarkable how much this has grown. It's ballooned
from the original goals that you set out to accomplish.
How much pride do you take in that and how
excited are you about what the future holds well?
Speaker 3 (23:37):
I mean, look, I think the credit really goes to this,
this explosion of innovation that occurs when you get industry, academia,
and government to all swim in the same direction, and
we don't see that a lot in society today, but
(23:59):
we know that when it happens, you can you can
really leapfrog uh technology innovation and and and uh.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Kind of reached new heights.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
And you know, but for the support of the State
of Indiana and the Indian Economic Development Corporation, these corporate
these industry partners who are donating millions of dollars worth
of cutting edge technology that typically is only in the
hands of the top automakers in their their early market
(24:33):
entries or prototype vehicles.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
And then the best and brightest.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Minds of these top engineering research universities around the world,
you know, finding a way to get all three of
them working together beyond a one off. So I think
everyone sort of said, Okay, let's try this prize competition,
see how it goes, see if it's successful, because there's
sort of a history of these prize competitions. But the
fact that they have stayed on with us and continued
(24:59):
this journey, I think is part is what I take
the most pride in because, you know, we saw something
in October of twenty twenty one that was a first
of its kind, incredible, but also realized there was so
much more that needed to be done, and people wanted
to stick with it to get there, and so, you know,
(25:21):
I hope we can get closer to that original objective
in our twenty twenty four activities and then beyond twenty
twenty four, we'll see where we go and where this
technology and the industry, partners and government, you know.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Takes us.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Incredibly exciting to see how far it's come. Can't wait
to see what the future holds as well. Thanks for
the update, Paul, Thanks Ryan, Thanks for joining us on
this special episode of The Inside Track. I'm your host,
Ryan Marine. Follow us on social media and let us
know your predictions for twenty twenty four and beyond. Let
(25:57):
us know where you believe autonomous motors towards his heading.
Join us next time to hear more amazing stories from
the world of autonomous racing and vehicles.
The world around us is changing faster than ever before.
Ideas once only imagined in science fiction are becoming a reality.
Throughout the course of our amazing twenty three episode season,
we'll speak to some of the greatest minds in robotics
and artificial intelligence to discuss the groundbreaking work that's fueling
it all. I'm your host, Ryan Marine, joined me and
my co host Paul Mitchell, the presidents of the Indian
(00:26):
Autonomous Challenge and see why we call this the inside Track.
Every year racing and automotive tech seems to become more advanced.
In this special episode, we'll examine this concept further by
revisiting our old twenty twenty three predictions. The question for
you listeners at home is this, how do our predictions
(00:47):
stack up to the reality of twenty twenty four. Does
what we know now about the integration with universities, industry
and government agencies match our original predictions? What more would
we learn in the years to come. It's now August
of twenty twenty three. It's been about eight months since
(01:08):
this project got started. My name is Ryan Marine. Paul
Mitchell from the India Autonomous Challenge joining us once again
to basically get an update, a status report on where
we are, and also at the end a little glimpse
into the future for the IAC as well. But I
think since the last time we sat down and really
gave a big tent overview of where this project stood,
(01:30):
we've had a lot of exciting things that have happened,
including a trip overseas.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
A couple trips overseas.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
So let's let folks know exactly what the IAC has
been up to here in the last few months.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
So after CS in January, we made this strategic decision
to pivot from having run exclusively on OVAL's to taking
on the new challenge of running on a road course.
And we announced in CS that we were going to
do that at Manza, the f one circuit in Europe
(02:01):
in Italy, and it's the oldest race track in Europe.
It's arguably the oldest circuit for a road course in
the world. And you know, I think we were excited
to make that announcement, but didn't really know what we
were getting ourselves into. So we had never taken these
cars overseas, we had never we had no resources on
the ground in Europe or in Italy. We have some
(02:24):
teams that are over there, so that was a help.
But so there was a lot of learning for the
organization of just like what it means to bring a
motorsports operation overseas. It's a lot of work, but also
was just a tremendous amount of fun and exciting for
the teams, exciting for sponsors. Because we made the decision
(02:45):
to go there so late in the game, we were
really limited in our practice times, so we had to
work around the tracks schedule, which meant we got the
cars over there in April, so only a couple months
after CS before they were loaded up, sent them over
there by airplane, which is expensive endeavor but go complicated too,
(03:08):
and complicated, Yeah, got them all to Monza, and thanks
to the people in Monza and the organization MEMO, which
is the Milan Manza Motor Show organization that we have
our partnership with, they were so accommodating. They opened up
a facility right on the grounds there that had a
small garage and some office space that we were able
to store the cars and work out of, and then
(03:30):
they basically helped us build a schedule to try to
get as close as we could to about eight practice days,
but it involved us having to do some evening sessions,
so we would go out after the client was done
and we'd go on the track from like six thirty
till nine o'clock, or in some cases we had morning
sessions where we go in very early, and you know,
(03:52):
it was it was like a totally different experience for
our AI drivers, you know, to try to figure out
this challenge of a road course. So you know, we're
used to going to an oval and maybe by the
end of the first day our cars are up at
one hundred and fifty one hundred and sixty miles an hour.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
It took several practices several.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Days before the cars were really able to get up
even to one hundred miles an hour because they were
trying to figure out this whole new challenge of turning
right and left. The other thing we encountered was the
fact that road courses, in particular at Manza, you've got
bridges and trees and other structures that create these dead
(04:37):
zones for GPS connectivity, and so it took a while
for the teams to sort of change their algorithms to
be less sensitive to drop offs in GPS, which is
actually from a technological standpoint, really important learning and R
and D for these universities and for our sponsors to
figure out. But it's a little nerve racking because every
(04:58):
time a car would go under a a bridge, you know,
the car would start wobbling in some cases come to
a stop. But by the end, you know, we had
we made history again. We had cars that were you know,
reaching one hundred and seventy miles an hour. You know,
our top top lap was two minutes and five seconds,
which is you know, not on par with the top
(05:19):
F one or I guess our car is probably closer
to like an F three car, but not that far
off if you think about the horsepower trade off and
aerodynamic trade off. So it was it was a respectable,
respectable runs that several of our teams were able to
achieve by the end of the of the time.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
There the ingenuity of these college students, it never ceases
to amaze.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
You know.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
One dynamic I think is super interesting. If we go
back to the early days of the IAC, it was
a lot of European institutions coming over, embedding themselves in
the United States and maybe having some homesickness being away
from friends and family, and the American teams being there
to support them. I imagine the shoe was on the
other foot when we went over.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
To it was so we had we had. It was
just one US team that went.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
We had two that were planning to go, and unfortunately
at the last minute the team AI Tech Racing led
by University of Hawaii, for a variety of reasons.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Had had to pull out.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
But the midpitr W team was over there from the
beginning to the end. They had people in country. They
did some trade off, people would.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Go home and come back.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
It wasn't quite as dramatic as the summer of twenty
twenty one when people came over here and they couldn't
go back because of COVID. They had to stay here
literally the whole time. But yeah, no, they got exposed
to the European culture and way of life and the
teams that are based there. Of course, Mon's is very
close to the Polytechnic and Milanos, so that team was
kind of the home team, the host team, if you will,
(06:50):
for ic for our operations. We had staff that were
there from April until July.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
I think most of them enjoyed it. It's not a.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Bad place to spend your to spend your summer, and
we did get some help from from local vendors and
local partners. We had some interns that were graduate students
at Polytechnic in Milano. We had some staff from the
milanmans A Motor Show. The people at the Mandsa track
were just incredibly generous with their time and support. But yeah, no,
(07:21):
it was definitely kind of this multicultural experience and it
it just is a symbol of the fact that Indy
Autonomous Challenge is a global activity and it made sense
for us to go to Europe. That's where we have
some of our top teams, and we've had a big
following in Italy. They've been following us there, not just
because of the success of the Italian teams, but I
(07:42):
think in general the motorsports community there is quite interested
in technology and cars. You know, they seem to be
bigger fans of Ferrari than they are of any particular driver, right,
so it's not as much of a change for them
to get excited about a car that doesn't have a
driver in it. And we saw that the general public
was very very positive. We had families with kids and
(08:05):
multiple generations coming into the garage during the three days
of the Milan Mons of Motor Show. Wanted to see
the cars, wanted to meet the teams. It's first time
I saw people asking team teams for autographs.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Which is interesting. Oh how cool.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yeah, usually little kids that sort of looked up to
these students as you know, stem superstars, which they are,
which was kind of kind of neat. And the last
day of our competition, which was a time trial competition only,
so in our first year we didn't attempt overtaking and
passing like we do on ovals.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
We limited it to just time trials.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
But the last day of the time trials was actually
pretty compelling that the top three teams were separated only
by about nine seconds in their lap time. And we
had about twelve thousand people that came and sat in
the grand stands to watch the final three runs. Now,
they were there for the broader Milan Mons of Motors Show,
(09:00):
but they were choosing to forego other things on the
grounds and come in and sit and watch. It was
it was really, you know, for us, the first time
we've had a big crowd like that that was cheering
and excited about about the race, which was a lot
of fun.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
And that's of course an iconic venue there at Monza,
and also the IIC was involved in another iconic motorsports
event in the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
We did, we did.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
It was a decision we made after CEES when we
knew that the cars were going over to Monza. We
had had this previous dialogue with Goodwood about bringing a
car there to participate in their Future Lab exhibition, which
is a curated kind of sort of like a museum
exhibition where they showcase cutting edge technology in automotive and mobility.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
So they wanted to put one of our.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Cars in Future Lab and we said okay, but we
also want to do a map, an autonomous map of
the hill climb, right, so we have the POTENTI to
come back next year and actually do an autonomous hill climb,
and they were all for it, so they allowed us
two of our cars, two of our teams it was
actually the Technical University of Munich team and then the
(10:12):
Midpit r W team which had been in Europe from
the Mons event, and we brought those two cars and
the Saturday before Goodwood when they basically had the hill
climb set up, but before all the festivities had started
they let us do some very low speed kind of
test runs to basically map the course so we can
(10:34):
begin modeling and preparing for a hill climb run next year.
So it was done on the down low, wasn't really
a publicized activity. The reception of the car inside the
Future Lab was really outstanding, and I think we're excited
to go back in twenty twenty four and see if
we can't set a record for an autonomous hill climb.
(10:56):
I don't think we'll reach the speeds that the world
records are set there on a pretty regular basis for
human driven vehicles, but fingers crossed, we can get there
for an autonomous vehicle and at least throw up a
respectable time.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Exactly the presence that you've had in the US, starting
with an event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a couple
events at CES plus one at Texas Motor Speedway, do
you feel like here Stateside, at least you kind of
reached the audience that you were going to reach. And
with that in mind, how important then is it to
branch out, take this technology to Europe and showcase it
(11:32):
to a new set of eyes, a new set of
interested spectators that might not have heard about this otherwise.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
I mean, I think it's a reflection of the fact
that the automotive industry is so global, the autonomous mobility
industry is perhaps even more global. You have companies in Europe,
in Asia, and the United States that are all racing
towards this strategic challenge of of autonomous mobility, or at
(12:03):
least let's say level four autonomous mobility, so so still
maybe a human in the loop, maybe a driver behind
the wheel that can take over, but providing a lot
of those safety systems and and you know, to just
show it in the United States, you know, you're you're
missing kind of two thirds of the of the industry
(12:25):
and of the talent that's needed to bring this technology.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
To the to the to the real world.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
You know, we have these international universities that are involved.
I think it's important that we acknowledge their participation by
kind of rewarding them with events in their in their backyards. Clearly,
the European universities were thrilled.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
To be there.
Speaker 3 (12:49):
They showed up with big crowds and big groups, the
way our US universities do when when events are held
here in the United States.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
And I also think it's a reflection.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Of the level of of interest and support from government. So,
you know, Indian Autonomous Challenge would not exist without the
support of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and brought more
broadly the state of Indiana. When we decided to go
over to Europe to Manza, we knew we needed the
support of the local government there and so we built
up a relationship together with the Indian Economic Development Corporation,
(13:21):
with the region of Lombardy, which is essentially the state
where Milan is the capital of the state within Italy,
and it's a big part of the Italian economy. It's
where a lot of the heavy industry and automotive centers
of excellence are and so you know, we had meetings
with government leaders in Lombardia. There was a delegation that
(13:44):
went over from the United States from the state of Indiana,
and you know, we have whether we go there or
not in the new yor term, I don't know, but
we have a team in Korea. There's a lot of
strong linkages between Indiana and Korea as well, and I
think using India Autonomous Challenge to reach out to the
broader audience the industry, but also these government to government
(14:07):
connections that we know are needed because the regulatory environment
and the government is going to have to be one
of the key players in ushering in this future of
autonomous mobility and understanding kind of what the rules and
regulations need to be for that technology.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Well, that gives us a little glimpse into the future.
So let's use that as a jumping off point. What
does the next twelve to eighteen months look like for
the Indy Autonomous Challenge.
Speaker 3 (14:36):
So twenty twenty four is going to be a banner
year for India Autonomous Challenge. I think if you look
at our history for the last two to three years,
it's really been this journey into the unknown where we're
trying something new and different and you don't exactly know
what the results are going to be. For twenty four,
we're taking the approach of saying, Okay, how do we
(14:58):
put all these capabilities together into a series of events
that are highly compelling from a technology innovation standpoint, but
also a catalyst for bringing industry, government and academia together
and really celebrate what we've achieved. And to do that,
we've got a pretty aggressive schedule. It's going to start
(15:20):
with CS in January, so we'll be back there.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
We love CEES.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
It's such a perfect fit for our activity. The teams
love being there. Of course, the sponsors are generally all
there anyways. The media is there, so you know, what
we're going to be doing this year at CES is
debuting sort of the new car, the AV twenty four,
which will still look similar to the cars that people
(15:45):
are familiar with, but the tech inside the car will
be almost completely updated, so the most cutting edge technology.
And I'll leave the details and the bits and pieces
about what's going to be different until we're able to
talk about it more publicly, but needless to say, you know,
we're going to have the most advanced autonomous race car
(16:08):
in the world, and it is a significant improvement on
the current vehicle in terms of capabilities, processing power, sensor capabilities,
drive by wire, et cetera. A lot of it is
improvements that we realize are needed to take this kind
of product to the next level that we've learned through
thousands and thousands of miles of high speed autonomous operations.
(16:32):
We are the only organization in the world that has
been running these autonomous vehicles year after year, thousands of
miles and you learn a lot through that process. So
we have the improved car that'll be debuted at CES.
We'll still have the legacy cars there running in a
passing competition, but we will showcase at the CS the
(16:53):
new vehicle. Then after CES, all of the cars will
be transformed into this AV twenty four platform and we'll
be headed back to Europe for a race at Monza.
Extremely excited. This time. We plan to have passing as
part of the competition. We haven't settled quite on the
(17:14):
rule set, but we have this unique partnership that we
established this year with ACI, the Automobile Club of Italia,
which is sort of the FIA for Italy, which granted
us the world's first AI motorsports driver's licenses for our
teams and sanctioned our time trial competition. So we're going
to work with them to craft a rule set that
(17:38):
really is the next iteration of autonomous motorsport. So we're
excited about that. That looks like that'll be sometime at
late June as part of the MILANMNSA Motor Show. Then
the cars will go to Goodwood, probably not all the teams,
but maybe two or three teams to attempt the hill climb,
(18:00):
hopefully set a world record there for an autonomous hill climb.
Cars will come back to the US and we'll return
to the where it all began at the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway at the end of the summer early fall time
frame for an oval competition. What's really cool is that
we're planning to link the Monsa event and the Indiapolis
(18:22):
Motor Speedway event as sort of a two.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Phased Race of two Worlds.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
And so for people that are students of motorsport and
no history of motorsport, they'll know that in nineteen fifty
seven nineteen fifty eight, you have this Race of two
Worlds branded event that was held at Monza at that
time on an oval that is kind of still partially
intact but not utilized for races, and you had US
(18:49):
Indy Car indy five hundred drivers at the time racing
against Formula one drivers. It's really the only time that
they went head to head in a direct competition. I
think the Car or eighty five hundred drivers won both years. Yes,
and the legend is that the Formula One drivers were
supposed to come back to the US to reciprocate and
(19:10):
participate in the NDY five hundred or some type of
race at the at the Indianapolis Motor Speakway. Of course,
that didn't happen, So we're trying to sort of bring
that history back and say, this is a modern race
of two worlds showcasing this new technology at Monza at
the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and we'll find some really cool
ways to connect those events. So perhaps the winner has
(19:31):
to has to do the best or score points in
both stages of the competition, and uh, you know, I think,
I think, you know, it would be really cool to
see the historical connections there and frankly reach a broader
audience by by showcasing these vehicles in Europe and then
(19:52):
in the United States in a in a competitive manner.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
So cool to link probably the two most iconic motorsports
venues on the planet.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
In definitely the two oldest I think, you know, motor speedways,
the oldest. MONS is really the second oldest from a
fully operational track. I think MONS host is hosted the
most Formula One races in a row.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
You know.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
India of course is the oldest ongoing race with the
D five hundred, and frankly the fact that we get
to run on a road course in an oval is
really cool.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
Throw a little hill climb in there for that's right.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
So it's so it's it's this sort of back to
the future year where we're taking this purely modern you know,
AI driven technology and showcasing it at these historic venues
in Europe and in the United States. You know, maybe
maybe the last thing that it is figure out how
to throw in the Pike's Peak at some point, But
(20:46):
otherwise I think we've got We've got a really exciting
year next year. And as I said, the goal is
not just to run these events as as one off events,
but to find a way to use them to catalyze
the interest and the aware earnest of technology, innovation, talent development,
government collaboration with industry and academia.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
And so as we get.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Closer to these events, will roll out a whole series
of activities that will happen at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
together with the State of Indiana and the indian Ecadomic
Filment Corporation, that will happen at Mansa together with the
Region of Flambardia and the Milan Monsa Motor Show. So
that the on track activities will certainly be the highlight,
(21:30):
but there'll be lots of other ways for companies, for entrepreneurs,
for innovators to engage and network and collaborate around these events.
Speaker 1 (21:40):
If we go back to twenty twenty one, there might
have been a perception that it was a one off
stunt at.
Speaker 2 (21:45):
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
But with plans like these, I think any ocean of
that sort has been thoroughly put to bed.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Yeah, well, you know, they wouldn't be wrong.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
I mean, I think the original thesis was this is
a prize competition. You run a prize competition to see
what happens and see if somebody can achieve the goal
or the objective.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
You know, in all honesty, we.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Didn't hit the original objective, which is a ten car
race of twenty laps at the Annapolosmotor Speedway, and we
adjusted the rule set to make it still very much
a stretch goal for this technology and where it is today.
But you know, we'll see how the rule set changes
(22:29):
for our event at IMS next year. I don't want
to predispose where we're going to be, but I think
we're going to be much closer to that original vision
than maybe people think we are, and so I'm very
excited to see that by the end of twenty twenty four,
I think we'll have a product that, you.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Know, starts to become more.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Race worthy, if you will, of putting on a motorsports
race or competition that, while not trying to replace or
even compete with human drivers, you know, can earn the
respect of those that are you know, purest when it
comes to you know, motorsports and what they expect to
see at a motorsports race.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
What was closed with this? Then you've had a little
bit of time, perhaps to reflect on just how far
this project has come. I mean, you were quite forthright
just a moment ago about what the goals were initially,
and it's remarkable how much this has grown. It's ballooned
from the original goals that you set out to accomplish.
How much pride do you take in that and how
excited are you about what the future holds well?
Speaker 3 (23:37):
I mean, look, I think the credit really goes to this,
this explosion of innovation that occurs when you get industry, academia,
and government to all swim in the same direction, and
we don't see that a lot in society today, but
(23:59):
we know that when it happens, you can you can
really leapfrog uh technology innovation and and and uh.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Kind of reached new heights.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
And you know, but for the support of the State
of Indiana and the Indian Economic Development Corporation, these corporate
these industry partners who are donating millions of dollars worth
of cutting edge technology that typically is only in the
hands of the top automakers in their their early market
(24:33):
entries or prototype vehicles.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
And then the best and brightest.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
Minds of these top engineering research universities around the world,
you know, finding a way to get all three of
them working together beyond a one off. So I think
everyone sort of said, Okay, let's try this prize competition,
see how it goes, see if it's successful, because there's
sort of a history of these prize competitions. But the
fact that they have stayed on with us and continued
(24:59):
this journey, I think is part is what I take
the most pride in because, you know, we saw something
in October of twenty twenty one that was a first
of its kind, incredible, but also realized there was so
much more that needed to be done, and people wanted
to stick with it to get there, and so, you know,
(25:21):
I hope we can get closer to that original objective
in our twenty twenty four activities and then beyond twenty
twenty four, we'll see where we go and where this
technology and the industry, partners and government, you know.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Takes us.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
Incredibly exciting to see how far it's come. Can't wait
to see what the future holds as well. Thanks for
the update, Paul, Thanks Ryan, Thanks for joining us on
this special episode of The Inside Track. I'm your host,
Ryan Marine. Follow us on social media and let us
know your predictions for twenty twenty four and beyond. Let
(25:57):
us know where you believe autonomous motors towards his heading.
Join us next time to hear more amazing stories from
the world of autonomous racing and vehicles.
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