Driverless Maserati racing car sets world record for autonomous speed
Italian automobile brand Maserati has set a new land speed record with its driverless MC20 Coupe, which reached 197.7 miles per hour without a driver at the helm during a racing event at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. The self-driving Maserati set the record as part of last week's The Indy Autonomous Challenge, billed as the The post Driverless Maserati racing car sets world record for autonomous speed appeared first on Dezeen.
Italian automobile brand Maserati has set a new land speed record with its driverless MC20 Coupe, which reached 197.7 miles per hour without a driver at the helm during a racing event at Florida's Kennedy Space Center.
The self-driving Maserati set the record as part of last week's The Indy Autonomous Challenge, billed as the world's only active autonomous racing car event, at the Space Florida Launch and Landing Facility (LLF) in NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
Reaching 197.7 miles (318 kilometres) per hour, the autonomous racing car overtook the previous world record of 192.2 miles per hour, set by an IAC AV-21 driverless racing car in April 2022 at the same location.
The Maserati MC20 Coupe is powered by artificial intelligence (AI) developed by a team at Italy's largest technical university, Politecnico di Milano.
Combined with its mid-mounted, twin-turbocharged V-6 engine, which can reach 621 horsepower and 538 pound-feet of torque, this allowed the car to complete the 2.8-mile runway at record-breaking speed, with no human in the driving seat.
Testing the AI under extreme conditions will ultimately allow the team to make the system safer for everyday use in cities, according to Sergio Matteo Savaresi, the project's scientific director and professor at Politecnico di Milano.
"The goal of high-speed tests is to evaluate the behaviour of robo-drivers in extreme conditions," Matteo said.
"Conducted in controlled environments without a human driver, the test assesses the AI's stability, robustness, and reaction time, ultimately enhancing safety for low-speed urban mobility situations."
Known as the Nettuno, the Italian word for Neptune, the engine's name is a nod to Maserati's recognisable trident logo.
In 2023, the car brand's CEO Davide Grasso told Dezeen how Maserati is seeking to ensure its electric vehicles are just as fun to drive as those with combustion engines.
More recently, former footballer David Beckham designed a pair of Maserati sports cars informed by his "passion for classic cars".
The photography is courtesy of Maserati.
The post Driverless Maserati racing car sets world record for autonomous speed appeared first on Dezeen.
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