Here's the official 'Robocar' for the autonomous Roborace series

Published Feb. 27, 2017 1:53 p.m. ET

Samuel Reiman

Roborace has unveiled the “Robocar,” which will be used by 10 teams in the inaugural season for the autonomous racing series.

While the first unofficial Roborace took place earlier this month on the streets of Buenos Aires, the car in use was the Devbot, which features a cabin where a driver could sit in during test sessions to help collect data from the car.

The Robocar – unveiled Monday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona – has no such cabin. Instead, the car features an NVIDIA DRIVE PX 2 that uses artificial intelligence to determine its location and best course of trajectory.

“Roborace opens a new dimension where motorsport as we know it meets the unstoppable rise of artificial intelligence,” said the car’s designer Daniel Simon. Simon has also created vehicles for blockbusters such as Tron Legacy and Oblivion. “Whilst pushing the boundaries of engineering, we styled every single part of the Robocar. We take special pride in revealing a functional machine that stays true to the initial concept shared, a rarity in automotive design and a testament of our determination. It's a great feeling to set this free.”

“This is a huge moment for Roborace as we share the Robocar with the world and take another big step in advancing driverless electric technology,” added Roborace CEO Denis Sverdlov. “I am so proud of the entire team and our partners and particularly the work Daniel has done creating this beautiful machine. It was very important for us that we created an emotional connection to driverless cars and bring humans and robots closer together to define our future. The progress with Devbot on track and building the Robocar in less than a year has been extraordinary and we cannot wait to continue the journey of learning with the Robocar.”

The Roborace cars are expected to be back out on track ahead of the Mexico City ePrix on April 1.

Image: Daniel Simon/Roborace