Intel Partners Up With Ferrari To Create AI-Powered Drones

Intel has announced a three-year partnership with Ferrari North America at the 2018 International Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

Both companies will be working together to deploy drones during races to “enhance the motorsports experience for spectators and illustrate the potential of artificial intelligence for transforming the future of motorsports”.

The footage collected from the races will be analyzed and offer information to crews and the drivers in real time. Intel believes this partnership will also reshape the fan viewing experience as broadcasters will now have “eyes everywhere” during a race.

“Intel AI enables event detection and object recognition to allow fans to experience the event like never before and see the drama of the race unfold,” said Intel CEO Brian Krzanich during his keynote address at the CES.

According to the press release, the information collected from the drones will eventually be used to ingest telemetric data such as the steering angle, braking pressure, and throttle pressure to understand a racer’s driving style and to predict their performance on the track.

With enhanced perspectives from the drones, Intel believes that using artificial intelligence will make it possible to compare different drivers and laps based on the object detection data from the video feed. “For example, artificial intelligence could compare the entry and exit angles that a driver takes in turns from lap to lap or compare across different drivers and identify which turns were the fastest,” read an article posted by Intel.

As useful as this data can be in real time, drivers will also be able to view it after the race to make adjustments in the future that will improve their overall race results.

The drone AI system will go live at Ferrari’s Challenge North America Series later this year.