Two Driverless Race Cars Crashed at 155 MPH — And That Might Be Useful

At Italy's Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, known for its treacherous final corner sequence called Rivazza, two driverless race cars collided during the A2RL (Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League) final. A vehicle built by PoliMove, named Eva, struck Unimore's car, Gianna, as it was slowing down.

Only two of the five finalists completed the race. The UAE's Kinetiz took first place, Germany's Constructor Racing finished second, and PoliMove placed third despite needing to swap out its damaged car for the podium ceremony. Two-time winner TUM withdrew during the formation lap after a brake malfunction.

Teams had just nine days of physical testing beforehand, in conditions that included rain and hail. It was also A2RL's first competition held outside its usual testing base at Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina Circuit.

What went wrong

Unimore said Gianna performed a safety stop after losing all data from its lidar and radar sensors, leaving GPS alone, which wasn't precise enough to keep racing at speed. PoliMove's Eva, just 1.5 seconds behind, detected the stopped car and attempted an evasive maneuver, but physics made a collision unavoidable once Gianna braked at roughly 1 g mid-corner.

TUM's car, Hailey, retired due to a mechanical issue — a stuck rear-left brake during the formation lap.

Useful data going forward

A2RL engineering director Nicola Palarchi stressed that autonomous racing isn't meant to compete with human racing, but to test technology's limits at extreme speeds without risking a driver's life. The same section of track has previously caught out Formula 1 champions, including Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz.

Organizers and teams argue that such failures — sensor loss, degraded localization, sudden braking — generate useful insights for improving real-world autonomous vehicle safety, including hardware that withstands extreme heat and algorithms that could help cars stop safely in emergencies. The next A2RL race returns to Yas Marina, where organizers are considering tougher conditions such as shorter testing windows or restricted GPS access.