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F1 is breaking new ground this weekend with artificial intelligence (AI) set to be trailed during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The tech will be used to regulate track violations by drivers, with pinpoint camera equipment analysing the edge of the track to monitor whether cars move outside the white lines. The AI will work out the number of pixels going past the edge and will signal for a penalty if a driver has strayed too far.
The FIA’s head of remote operations and deputy race director Tim Malyon says the technology, known as 'Computer Vision', has been effective in medicine as it acts as a kind of filtering process during analysis. And Maylon thinks F1 can use it in a similar manner.
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"They don’t want to use the Computer Vision to diagnose cancer," he said. "What they want to do is to use it to throw out the 80% of cases where there clearly is no cancer in order to give the well-trained people more time to look at the 20%. And that’s what we are targeting."
The idea is that AI will reduce the number of potential violations which need to be looked at. During the Austrian Grand Prix earlier in the season there were over 1,200 potential infringements being processed by four individuals, while in Qatar, many breaches went unpunished due to the sheer amount of possible infringements that needed to be checked.
What other ways could AI work in F1? Let us know in the comments section below.
"The biggest imperative is to expand the facility and continue to invest in software, because that’s how we’ll make big strides," Malyon added. "The final takeaway for me is be open to new technologies and continue to evolve. I’ve repeatedly said that humans are winning at the moment in certain areas.
Earlier in the season, Lewis Hamilton suggested that AI might be used to improve the decision-making from stewards. He said: "How many years have we… That rule has been the same for ages, you know? I think we need to start looking into AI for this sort of thing, so we get good decisions."
Although the system's introduction will see driver's policed rather than stewards, it is still a step in the right direction. Out on the track, there's very little left to compete for heading into the final race of the season. Max Verstappen's third successive world title was sealed at the start of last month while his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez has already wrapped up second place.
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However, Mercedes and Ferrari are still battling it out for the runners-up spot in the constructors championship, while another win for Verstappen would see him leapfrog Sebastian Vettel into third on the list of all-time F1 race wins, behind Lewis Hamilton (103) and Michael Schumacher (91).
- Artificial Intelligence
- F1
- Formula One
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