’Formula 1 could see driverless race cars as early as 2025’

Markus Lienkamp believes in the future of autonomous motorsports. Image: Jacob Kepler - A team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) has developed software which lets race cars compete in motor sports without a driver. The TUM Autonomous Motorsport Team was able to take 1st and 2nd place at the Autonomous Challenges in Indianapolis and most recently at the CES in Las Vegas. Does this technology have the potential to revolutionize racing? Markus Lienkamp, Professor for automotive technology, tells us the answer. Prof. Lienkamp, what gave you the idea of entering your team in the two Autonomous Challenges in the USA? The story began back in 2005, as information scientist Sebastian Thrun from Stanford University won the DARPA Grand Challenge, which was until then highly renowned as the only race for autonomous vehicles, held in the Nevada desert. At the time I was working at Volkswagen and built the car for him. Then came the 2007 Urban Challenge in California, a race for autonomous cars on a paved course under realistic traffic conditions, where once again three Volkswagen vehicles from various universities made the finals. Sebastian Thrun then had the idea of staging speed races similar to Formula 1 on a real race track: That was the birth of the Autonomous Challenge concept. And it went without saying that I wanted to participate together with a TUM team. The autonomous vehicles which are currently being tested for street use already contain an enormous amount of AI. What's the difference between the software you use in the race cars and the systems already in use?