Politecnico di Milano sets new Speed World Record for a racetrack

Pushing boundaries of head-to-head autonomous-racing, PoliMOVE competed at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway against a field of nine teams from 17 universities spanning six countries, seeking to break autonomous racing records. TUM Autonomous Motorsport from Technische Universität München (Germany) took second place in the heated battle. A confirmation for the Politecnico car, last year again in Las Vegas, it won the first edition of the IAC.

“Exactly one year later, we were so proud and excited to be back in Las Vegas for the Autonomous Challenge @ CES,” said Proffesor Sergio Savaresi, Professor at Politecnico di Milano. “Today was a major step forward in speed, the complexity of the race, and overcoming challenging head-to-head situations. We are glad for this success, for the contribution of the Indy Autonomous Challenge, and for all the teams in advancing the technology of A.I. drivers.”

The Rules of the IAC Competition consist of a single elimination tournament with multiple rounds of head-to-head passing matches culminating in a championship round. The world’s fastest autonomous racecars, Dallara AV-21s, took turns playing the role of Leader (Defender) and Passer/Follower (Attacker) in front of a global crowd of CES attendees. Passes were attempted at ever-increasing speeds until one or both cars were unable to complete a pass.

PoliMOVE is part of the Politecnico research group mOve, led by Professor Sergio Savaresi, which has been studying for 20 years automatic controls in all types of land vehicles: from electric bicycles to cars and even tractors. On April 27, 2022, on the straight of the Space Shuttle landing strip at NASA Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, the Politecnico di Milano-PoliMOVE car broke the world speed record for a fully autonomous-car on a straight line.