A great first in the history of autonomous cars.
On Friday in Las Vegas, an autonomous racing car overtook another driverless racing car on a Nevada city racing circuit.
This feat is a first in the short history of vehicles driven by algorithms.
On the edge of the oval track, the members of the Italian-American team PoliMOVE loudly applauded Minerva, the nickname they gave to their car, after it overtook, on several occasions, that of the team. South Korean Kaist.
The organizers wanted to see the cars overtake at least 160 km / h.
Objective achieved: Minerva was running at 185 km / h when she overtook the South Korean single-seater, which then gave up.
"
It's a success
," Paul Mitchell, of ESN, co-organizer of the Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC), told AFP, even before the race was over.
It was held on the sidelines of CES, the annual meeting of the tech industry.
The goal of this competition, in which teams of students from all over the world participate, is to advance autonomous driving technologies so that they can work anywhere, including on highways.
"Not mechanics"
At the end of October, the IAC had planned to run the nine cars together, but had finally given up because not all the teams were ready, and had contented themselves with separating them at the best time. "
It almost holds the world record for speed of autonomous cars
", boasts Davide Rigamonti, one of the engineers of PoliMOVE, brooding Minerva with a loving gaze.
In Indianapolis in October, she had climbed the pit straight at around 250 km / h, before spinning into the bend. In question, no "
bug
", but the conjunction of cold tires and a tendency to oversteer (the rear tires slip). Friday, it is the South Korean car which made laps on itself after having overtaken that of the University of Auburn (Alabama).
“
The students who program these cars are not mechanics.
Most of them didn't know anything about racing
, ”remarks Lee Anne Patterson, specialist in single-seater competitions.
“
We helped them understand how to take care of their machine.
We explained motor racing to them
, ”she says.
“
For example, when the car is sucked in by another, it gains 8 km / h.
How will the autonomy system react?
"
Milliseconds
All the teams received the same car, a Dallara IL-15, a sort of small F1, and the same technological equipment with, in the spotlight, sensors, cameras, GPS and radars, to allow the cars to be on the track and between. they.
It is then up to the students to program the software so that it makes the right decisions. To be able to overtake, for example, "
we must foresee how the other car is likely to react, and plan the behavior of our own, according to the physical limits of driving
", underlines Markus Lienkamp, one of the professors of the faculty of Munich, TUM, who won the October competition.
“
The only parameter to determine today is speed. Then, the car does all the maneuvers automatically
, ”he explains from the tent where his PhD students are glued to the control screens. "
It plays out in milliseconds
," says Paul Mitchell. “
When a sensor detects another car, it sends a signal to the computer, which sends a signal to the driving system to tell it to adjust speed or to move away ... The computer has to make the same decisions. than a human driver, despite the speed
”.
The IAC plans to organize more races on the model of Friday's, pitting two cars against each other, with the hope of reaching a level sufficient to one day launch all the vehicles together.