The Indy Autonomous Challenge is not so much about racing cars as it is a competition to determine who can develop the best AV software stacks. Universities from all over the world compete in the series, and they keep getting better at it. As part of CES, the competition is held at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
John I would like to have heard more about how the autonomy works in racing. Like I assume they have a designated location to pit so is the car just given instructions to just go run XX laps and return to set location or is there communication required the entire time? Seems with the planned passing a certain amount of communication continues live while racing. How close are they to filling the track with a dozen cars to maneuver and jockey for position without live input? My guess is the goal would be to have a program loaded that when the green flag waves no more input from outside the car is required and the car runs at the max speed possible and safely pass all cars when capable finish first and return home (to the pit) without any further instructions given once the race starts.
Certainly, this is more an exercise in developing the technology than trying to create another motorsport. With that in mind I assume they chose Indy cars just to reach the high speeds more easily. I can’t imagine many spectators willing to pay money to watch machines race against each other.