How is artificial intelligence changing Formula 1?

Before delving into how F1 has benefited from artificial intelligence, it is worth understanding just how the AI industry is interacting with the sport – and why.

Alexandre Bonnet, the Lead ML Solutions Engineer for Encord told Autosport that the scope of what F1 offers as a platform for AI and machine learning is appealing to those who want to be involved.

“The reason F1 is so attractive is there’s such a wide variety of things you can do with all the different types of technology, all the way from the manufacturing stage, like parts, like quality analysis, like industrial process optimisation, like robotic manufacturing all the way through to the actual driving pieces,” he said.

“Then the optimisation of the actual vehicle designs, things like the biomimicry stuff that’s come out over the last few years, all through to the actual televisation, that is, again, a whole other round of computer vision and AI work that’s going on.”

Bonnet also feels AI firms can benefit from their association with a sport that has always been pioneering in its use of technology.

“AI companies want to be involved because it’s a complex sport, you are on the cutting edge where it’s the fastest cars, it’s the fastest drivers, all that sort of stuff, which isn’t really true of any other well-known sport,” he added.

“F1 teams are specialised in car manufacturing and of course, they do have in-house AI talent but they do also need to draw on that external expertise of the most up to date and innovative machine learning systems, I think it is a symbiotic relationship in that sense.”

Formula 1 Teams

Formula 1 has forever been a sport driven by data; lap times, deltas, top speeds, and tyre temperatures.

The sheer reams of information available to a team looking to crunch the numbers and make the most of the results had previously made the task a difficult, and time-consuming effort.

Now, though, AI can sort through such statistics in seconds as Andrew McHutchon – Head of Data Science at McLaren – explained in a recent interview on the team website.

“Previously, we’ve collected data that we didn’t know what to do with, but now, with AI and by working with Dell Technologies’ AI Factory, we can process the data in a much richer way to extract meaningful learnings from it,” he said.

“If it’s a decision related to pitting, you may only have a third of a lap before the…