The topic of driverless cars creeps up in the news from time to time and the debate as to whether they are beneficial or not continues.
More often than not, the talk about driverless cars, or autonomous cars as they’re also known, is in regards to how they can be beneficial in improving safety, lowering emissions and increasing time on the commute. Autonomous cars are rarely spoken about in terms of car racing, which is why LeaseCar UK’s latest campaign #AutonomousRacing is really intriguing. The campaign looks at 6 well-known racing cars that have been reimagined to show what they would look like as autonomous cars.
What would a driverless racing car actually look like?
Road cars come with plenty of features such as seating, a dashboard, a steering wheel and pedals which require a person to make use of them. With an autonomous car, these features wouldn’t be necessary so they could be removed from the racing car, as well as headlights and indicators. Many of the safety features that are included in the car could also be removed, as an autonomous car eliminates the driver. The tyres on a racing car would have to be made flatter than those on a road car in order to drive efficiently and reach high speeds. In general, an autonomous car would have a sleek, modern design.
How would autonomous cars impact the world of racing?
Taking the driver out of the car could impact competitive driving in a big way. The driver’s skill would no longer be needed and the car’s capability would be the main focus. The risk of human error would be taken out of the equation. Having driverless cars in racing would be beneficial when it comes to safety measures. If there were any crashes in the race it would only cause damage to the car rather than hurting the driver. The racing cars would also be able to reach great speeds when lives aren’t at risk.
Although autonomous cars in racing would be an interesting concept, there’s no guarantee that it would generate as much interest from people in the same way that cars with drivers do. If you’d like to share your thoughts on this, let us know by joining in the conversation using the hashtag #AutonomousRacing.
