Coming as temporary relief for people worried about the coming robot apocalypse, a carbon-based life-form and Formula E presenter has triumphed over an autonomous race car during a showdown on the streets of Hong Kong.
The speed trial, held during the Hong Kong E-Prix earlier this month, pitted Formula E pit lane reporter Nicki Shields against DevBot, a development car manufactured by Roborace, a company pioneering the driverless electric race cars.
Videos of the race was released by Roborace this week. Though admitting she was nervous about the result — understandably, given widespread fears about the ascendancy of artificial intelligence and the enslavement of the human race — Shields held her nerve and scored one for her species, completing the circuit in Central in 1 minute and 26.6 seconds.
DevBot, equipped an array of sensors, computation systems and communication technology, finished with a fasted lap of 1 minute and 34 seconds.
The times lagged somewhat behind those competing in E-Prix races, which feature electric cars that can accelerate from 0 to 100 kilometers per hour in three seconds and reach maximum speeds of about 225 kilometres per hour.
The first race on Dec. 2 was won by British driver Sam Bird with DS Virgin Racing, whose fastest lap was clocked at 1 minute and 4.6 seconds. The race the following day went to Swede Felix Rosenqvist of Mahindra Racing, who clocked a fastest lap time of 1 minute and 4.2 seconds.
The DevBot is Roborace’s development car and includes a cabin for a human driver. The company’s showpiece is the Robocar, a low slung and fully autonomous mechanical beast, likely to play a prominent role in the inevitable war between man and machines.
Reader Interactions