The FIA has revealed that Formula 1 could adopt a driverless safety car in the future, as part of an effort to promote autonomous technology.
In an interview with Autosport, Marcin Budkowski, the head of the FIA’s F1 technical department, said that the sport is looking to showcase autonomous technology while ensuring that drivers remain a key element of F1’s attraction.
He said that a driverless safety car would be “a good way of proving automotive advances, without detracting from the show.”
“It would promote a technology about which there is a bit of scepticism and, instead, it could be shown that it works. The safety car driver would no longer be essential, because it would leave the controls to the computer. But we must be aware of the attraction of F1 race cars without drivers: the engineers would love it, but not the fans,” he said.
Despite being sceptical about the potential fan interest in driverless F1, Budkowski does believe that autonomous developments would be well suited to other series, like Roborace.
Roborace, the world’s first competition for driverless cars, was announced last year as part of a tie-up with electric series Formula E.
“I see it [Roborace] as a very interesting thing, which pushes things in one direction,” Budkowski told Autosport.
“But can this idea of having no F1 driver captivate millions around the world? Frankly I have doubts. However, using the motorsport platform to promote to the public new technologies, like an unmanned safety car, or events like Roborace, can be fantastic in exploring the possibility of new solutions.”
Formula 1 will be returning to the region later this year, with the annual Abu Dhabi Grand Prix taking place on 26th November at Yas Marina Circuit.
