ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, April 29 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) — TUM (Technical University of Munich) from Germany, claimed victory at the inaugural Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL), at Yas Marina Circuit on Saturday (April 27). As the cars lined up on the grid, with antennae, sensors, AI capabilities, and drive-by-wire systems instead of human drivers, eight teams vied with one another over two days of races and challenges. TUM beat back the competition with its coding and engineering skills in a world-first, four-car race finale, to claim the winner’s share of US$2.25 million prize pot.
Bringing a science experiment to the racetrack, the inaugural race pushed the boundaries of autonomous technology while adding entertainment value to extreme sports at an unprecedented scale. A2RL drew over 10,000 spectators at the circuit and captured the attention of over 600,000 online viewers in just 12 hours. Organized by ASPIRE, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), A2RL fuses extreme autonomous racing and AI to accelerate the global development of autonomous systems and technologies.