Race Cars with No Drivers

I disagree, people go to the races to see man push the limits of what's possible with current technology, what man and machine can achieve together working in unison...the same reason people watch rocket launches and other sports as well...they don't watch to see man fail, they watch to see him succeed...so we can all share in the glory of victory....

When you are properly pushing the limit, there will always be failures...

I agree with HTRN, but maybe not the literal reading of his post. I believe his statement regarding people going to the races to see wrecks was not really his intent. (Maybe it was, but I'm sure he will chime in and clarify. )

What I believe HTRN was trying to say is that people go to the races to witness the human struggle/input/touch/element and yes, risk to the race. Like the Roman gladiators, we like to have someone to root for. So it is both the driver and the machine. Take out the human element, and we can no longer identify with, live vicariously through, another person.

So while one machine racing against another machine, takes the human level out to an abstraction, and it becomes an academic exercise. Academic exercises can be interesting, but rarely do they invoke emotions. We go to the races to feeeeeeel those emotions. Feelings , whoah, whoah, whoah, feelings.

Skip to 6:00

I haven't watched Battle Bots in over a decade or more, but I thought there was still the human element of operating the machine. At the time, there was still the human on human competition, even if it was through the surrogate of remote control. There was real loss as machines were damaged or destroyed with the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

While it was interesting to watch in the beginning due to its novelty, I tired of it pretty quickly. Not that I needed to see someone get hurt or killed, it just didn't have any depth to the struggle and the remoteness of the competitors made it challenging to remain interested.

I kind of equate it to the situation where I would rather golf than watch someone golf even though I have only golfed twice in my lifetime. While I can have profound appreciation for the skills of those who are at the top of the game, I make zero effort to sit down and watch them on the telly.

Sorry SE most of your videos are blocked in Horse Trail Yehar for copyright reasons.

You can get a VPN to change your location at will...don't be controlled by the man...

IMO you're agreeing there with both HTRN and SE!

It's an interesting and entertaining idea. I'm wondering how well racetrack driving will apply to everyday driving. Still, it would be fun to watch.

As an ex-racecar driver, personally, it's the thrill of the speed, competition, the teamwork and the adrenalin rush of the remote chance of danger. Of course, the goal is to win. But also, the goal is to communicate to the people watching the thrill and the emotion of racing. That's what keeps people watching racing, no matter if in person or watching remotely. Winning becomes the goal, but surviving is rewarding.

Having "robots" do the risky work would take the emotion out of the racing, in my opinion. No one wants anyone to get hurt, or worse, during an event. But, the remote chance of that happening brings out the "edge" to watching. Racers take on that risk for their own personal reasons. But, the key is to keep it interesting for people to watch. Since, at the end of the day, this justifies corporations to invest the millions they do in racing.

For guaranteed wrecks, there was demolition derby.

Not as popular as the current motor sports.

Could just be the health and safety that killed it?

Demolition derbies definitely play to our basest emotions and fantasies and living vicariously through someone willing to put it on the line. Who of us hasn't from time to time wished at some level that we could play out that scene from "Fried Green Tomatoes"?

It all seems a bit pointless.

Yes like a broken pencil.

Formula lost my interest, who wants to watch milk floats run around will all the extra rules to make it "competitive"

Meanwhile, technology marches on....

If you listen to the crowd, the most exciting part of the race is when a crash occurs. Some high emotions on both sides.

This reveals their true reason for being there: excitement...the height of which is a crash.

Nothing more exciting to the crowd than a crash, as long as no one gets killed, and it is the opponent's car that gets the most damage.

It takes at least two people and two horses to make a horse race, and they must disagree on the predicted winner.

IMHO: People will drive further and pay more to see an enemy defeated than to see a victory by their own side.

You said “IMHO: people will drive further and pay more to see an enemy defeated than to see a victory by their own side.”

Boy oh boy, this describes the current political climate in the USA.

If I were to go to such a race, I would go to see the software (now called AI) fail.

Depends if its a stockcar race or an Indie 500

Well stock car racing there is a lot more contact I think, and F1 not so much, so I think each has their own fans and that shows there are at least 2 schools of thought here....I know any race is a lot more exciting if you know somebody in the race, like a friend or family member, that applies to foot races to motorcycle races to horse races...

..."Formula 1, or F1, is the most popular racing series in the world right now. Formula 1 cars are open, single-seat cars, known as some of the fastest vehicles in the world, if not the absolute fastest. Formula 1's roots go back to the 1920s, but officially, F1 racing began in 1946 with the creation of FIA.Jan 10, 2022"...

..."What is the most popular racing sport in America?

NASCAR The biggest reasoning for NASCAR being the most popular motorsport in the US is the excitement factor. But let's take a quick look at what makes NASCAR an “All-American Sport”.Apr 18, 2023 ..."Is F1 or NASCAR more popular? Outside the U.S., Formula One is undeniably more popular than NASCAR. In the 2022 season, NASCAR averaged over three million viewers per race, the most they've had in four years. Meanwhile, the 2021 Formula 1 season saw an average of 70 million viewers per race.Mar 28, 2023 "...

i can understand and appreciate the technology…

but,… It’s about two steps away to becoming a video game….

Or two steps away from watching someone else play a video game.

Racing has always advanced technology that would soon after be put into everyday cars. In safety, handling and efficiency.

We are still a long ways from the Jetsons, but these little steps will eventually reach that level, except no one will have to work. Total automation of everything, and a moneyless civilization.

If we get more than around 10% of unemployment society has too many problems to survive.

The rich already look down at those who have no jobs - the very people they used to employ to make them money.

Eventually, there would be so many unemployed that no one has the funds to buy the new gadgets due to rising taxation.

Some parts of first world countries are already at the stage of a large percentage of their population living with continuous debt.

Removing the young from employment into training has hidden a great deal of this but it is catching up fast.

By the time the greedy ones at the top are aware of the situation - if this is not a planned method to reduce population size - there will be a great amount of civil unrest all across the world.

A workless, cashless society is a recipe for disaster, not Utopia.

10% unemployment.,, that depends if you’re a citizen or not… this is what DTS does to people, we’ve seen what it does to the it members right here,

Wasn't the abbreviation "TDS" or maybe I am thinking of something else?

..."Eventually, no cars will crash."

That will be the day we have conquered safe transportation..won't that be a glorious. day....

...."In 2010, there were an estimated 5,419,000 crashes, 30,296 deadly, killing 32,999, and injuring 2,239,000.^[4] About 2,000 children under 16 die every year in traffic collisions.^[5] There were 3,613,732 motor vehicle fatalities reported in the United States from 1899 to 2013."..

We are currently averaging about 45k traffic deaths per year....and people get all excited about a few hundred people dying in a plane crash when we are averaging around 850 deaths per week from traffic deaths...that's the equivalent of 3 or 4 planes going down every week....surely we can all get behind safer cars....and support racing that will bring us to that end....

Safer drivers would help too. But that's much harder than building perfectly safe vehicles. Changing human nature and the vagaries of human nature is very difficult. Each time someone makes something idiot-proof, a better idiot comes along.

Yeah it's a tough nut to crack...that's for sure...If every car had an alcohol detection system that could be turned on and off, and AI technology, and the AI was able to know when to energize the ADS when suspicious, that might help...Parked outside a bar all evening, might cause the system to energize, or starting the car after midnight, or sitting in the car for long periods...cars should have a carjacking button under the dash, when pressed the car would only travel a quarter mile before shutting down and requiring a pin number to restart....

"cars should have a carjacking button under the dash, when pressed the car would only travel a quarter mile before shutting down and requiring a pin number to restart...."

Great idea: how about a car jacking option that can be activated remotely?