A2RL May Be Autonomous, but Humans Are at Its Heart

As Yas Marina Circuit readies itself for A2RL's inaugural event, a world-first four-car fully autonomous race, special attention needs to be given to two vital aspects of the competition: the car and the teams behind them.

Each competitor in the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League starts with the same vehicle: a Dallara Super Formula car. The car, in its original form, is used in the Japanese Super Formula, but here it's been given a raft of modifications and custom-built to make it suitable for fully autonomous driving and is known as EAV24. Outside of Formula One, the Dallara is the fastest open-wheel racing car on the planet.

Its body includes sustainable composites. Mixing carbon and flax–a natural material that shares lightweight and rigid properties with traditional carbon fiber sourced from Swiss company Bcomp. It's been shaped to help the car cut through the air cleanly, generate downforce to aid fast cornering, and, of course, to look good.

At the front and rear are cutting-edge pushrod suspension and adaptive dampers to ensure it can get around corners as flat and as quickly as possible. Its suspension setup has been, much like its body, designed to be as space-efficient and as light as regulations allow.

In the middle of the car is a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder internal combustion engine–A2RL isn't an electric series–that produces a hefty 550 horsepower. That power is sent to the rear wheels, via a six-speed gearbox.

It's a race car through and through, as Dr. Tom McCarthy, Executive Director of the ASPIRE Group, the organization running A2RL, explains: "We want to create drama and excitement, and with EVA24 we've got it. It's based on one of the best race cars in the world, it sounds incredible, and it's very fast. With that as our basis, we've got the perfect canvas for our goal: fully autonomous extreme race. Come for the car, stay for the technological spectacle."

In an A2RL car, you'll have noticed the autonomous stack instead of a driver. It uses sensors, actuators, computers, 360-degree cameras, and LiDAR technology to "see" the track, and anything else on it. The combination of technologies works in harmony not only to go as quickly as is