AI-powered Maserati speeds faster than a bullet train, in new self-driving world record

If you were already concerned about self-driving cars on the local highway - look out for the AI-powered MC20 Maseratis.

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Credit: Maserati

As part of an initiative between the Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC) and Italian university Politecnico di Milano, scientists have put their hands together to break the autonomous land speed record. In a recent development, the team managed to push a modified Maserati MC20 Cielo, fitted with Lidar, camera, and sensor technology, to 197mph (or 318km/h ). A staggering pace, which for reference, is nearly as fast as a commercial airplane on takeoff or a Shinkansen Japanese Bullet Train.

The feat was achieved at the Space Florida Launch and Landing Facility (LLF) at the Kennedy Space Center, one of the longest runways in the world at 2.8 miles. While primarily used for government operations, the LLF served as the perfect testing ground to push the limits of self-driving vehicles.

The team initially set out to test the limits of hardware, computing power, and artificial intelligence in the realm of autonomous driving. The team's, specialized solely in this field, have had a crack at the records before - managing to hit 192.8mph in a IAC AV-21 race car back in 2022. However, like any field of innovation, limits are made to be broken.

Paul Mitchell, the CEO of IAC, explained the reasoning behind transitioning to a street car, citing that it helps "transition the learnings of autonomous racing to enable safe, secure, sustainable, high-speed autonomous mobility on highways". Meaning, the insights would have more real world applications. The logic dictates that if teams can create systems that help vehicle navigate at these extreme speeds, the findings can be applied to low-speed urban environments.

However, I suspect that the researchers find at least a little satisfaction in making things go really fast.