The age of the autonomous car is nearly upon us, so it probably shouldn’t surprise you that the autonomous race car is almost here too. The people behind the Formula E electric racing series debuted the Roborace autonomous motorsport concept in late March. Now, Roborace gives us our first look at the test mule used to develop the self-driving race cars.
Called “DevBot,” the autonomous racer resembles a Le Mans prototype with its full canopy. The body appears to be made mostly of carbon fiber, but the engine cover is missing. Because it is, the electric drivetrain behind the driver is exposed. But even without seeing the car’s electric guts, we could probably guess its propulsion based on the not-so-silent whine of an electric motor. Roborace says the prototype features the same drivetrain, sensors, computation systems, and communication tech as the Robocar that was revealed in March.
DevBot doesn’t look anything like the Robocar design, which was penned by “Tron: Legacy” designer Daniel Simon. But since this is only a development mule, it doesn’t necessarily have to. The DevBot has a cockpit so a human can pilot it, but expect future iterations to ditch the driver space just like the concept. A final Robocar design will be revealed later this year.
Does this all-electric, self-driving development car get you excited for the autonomous support race set to debut for the 2016/2017 Formula E season? Tell us in the comments below.
Source: Roborace
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