
Autonomous vehicle takes part in the legendary Mille Miglia
Autonomous driving on the race track is nothing entirely new. But at “Mille Miglia,” the legendary Italian endurance race, drivers have so far had to prove their skills exclusively by themselves. Now the Politecnico di Milano University is sending a self-driving car out onto the race track.
The brand-new, iconic Maserati MC20 Cielo, which has been equipped with all the technological components required for autonomous driving by researchers from the Politecnico di Milano research team, will take part in the entire 1000 Miglia 2023, including completing some sections of the route in autonomous driving mode – all while obeying the road traffic regulations. Matteo Marzotto, who will commemorate the 70th anniversary of his uncle Giannino’s victory in the 1953 1000 Miglia, will take on the role of “supervisor” on board – as the car is not allowed to drive fully autonomously for legal reasons.
The 1000 Miglia 2023 is just the beginning of this ambitious project. The results will be used to further refine the technology over the course of the next year. Then, in 2024, a robotic vehicle is to drive the entire 1,500 km of the 1000 Miglia in fully autonomous mode.
This testing is possible thanks to the authorization recently granted by the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport to conduct autonomous driving tests on public roads. In the history of this decree, this is only the second authorization granted and the first ever for such a diverse and long route.
Unfortunately, the Politecnico does not go into detail about the technology used in the autonomous vehicle. At least the public learns that AI plays a significant role: After a year of development, researchers plan to use AI to explore a variety of real-world situations on different types of roads along the route of the classic 1000 Miglia, said Sergio Savaresi, professor of automation at Politecnico di Milano and leader of the 1000 MAD project.
The project is being conducted in partnership with 1000 Miglia srl, is under the auspices of MOST, the Italian National Center for Sustainable Mobility. Sponsors include the technology arm of the Italian Autostrada administration, Movyon and Cisco.
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