Semi Autonomous Car Racing... slot cars on steroids

I have no idea what the world is coming to, and it frightens me what the egg heads are trying to do. The idea of semi-autonomous car racing has prickles on it and I hope we never see the day, but so does Facebook and look at that.

The advances in on-road safety of the past decade have been staggering, I own a car that was built in 2010 (and cost $60k) and I am looking at replacing it next year. My car is a dinosaur, it has no blind spot detectors, no emergency braking or lane control and no nodding off warning systems. It has airbags all over the place and a really well calibrated traction control system and the chassis is still the best in the class… but it is archaic when it comes to safety tech.

In fact, the modern car is becoming so complete some people believe they can drive themselves. Tesla, for instance, is pioneering the semi-autonomous road car which is really akin to declaring I have no love for the car, but less for public transport.

Inevitably, the question becomes how would all this technology work on the track? I have concerns on numerous levels, especially having watched the video on Sam Schmidt and his Semi Autonomous Racing Car. At least it is not someone trying to race full size ‘robot’ cars which is also a concept I have seen promoted as the future.

So the technical. It would work, but like many things we can do, should we?

Motorsport is about so many things, from the technological tour de force that is Formula One down to the simplicity of karts. But if we look to Formula E we start to see some of the real issues, and it centres around a lack of soul… then we start to investigate the safety concerns.

A semi-autonomous racing car would need all the gadgets. Anti-lock brakes, serious traction control, blind spot warning devices and the list goes on. I can’t see how you can get enough feel from sucking on a straw to really know what is happening with the brakes, to me it is no different to driving Bathurst on Real Racing 3 in my iPhone. It is sensational fun, but it is artificial.

If we get through the opening moves and we allow these cars to actually race, what happens when you take a tap and look sideways, or the bump makes your head move and you are headed off track a rapid rate since where the heads is pointing is where the wheels are going. Crikey, I may even want to use my mirrors so that I can stop someone passing me… only I’d hit them when I looked.

And then there is the famed computer crash, the blue screen of death which would inevitably lead to a physical crash too. Yes, I know they don’t go down too often, but in the heat of battle every car has failures, and when the processor, sensors, actuators, GPS and cameras have no functioning brain the car would be in a bit of strife.

Then there’s the one that political correctness says we may not want us to talk about. How do we get a paraplegic out of a burning racing car? Ejector seat?

Motorsport has a human side and that is what makes it more exciting than slot cars or remote control cars. As a driver, it is about the sensations of the car and racing, the feel of the car through your bum, and the reflex actions that come from the use of all your senses. The ability to make decisions and get it wrong.

You take the human out and replace it with computers, it is no longer a sport.

So here’s the rub from my point of view. I have no dramas with Sam Schmidt and the egg heads running hot laps and the like, but unfortunately the limitations in racing, to me, are just too great.

If this ever becomes the norm, I’ll be using my own ejector seat from motorsport.