Mexican Media Brands
Formula E Champ di Grassi Named Roborace CEO
The organizers of the fledgling Roborace series for autonomous vehicles have tapped ex-Formula One driver and current Formula E champ Lucas di Grassi to be CEO.
Share
The organizers of the fledgling Roborace series for autonomous vehicles have tapped ex-Formula One driver and current Formula E champ Lucas di Grassi to be CEO.
Di Grassi, who has been involved in the Formula E electric circuit since it was launched four years ago, has served as a consultant to Roborace for the last year. He plans to continue to compete as a Formula E driver. Both series are offshoots of F1.
Roborace founder Denis Sverdlov will move into an advisory role following di Grassi’s appointment. The Russian-backed initiative demonstrated so-called “DevBot” test cars (with human backup drivers) at various races during the latest Formula E season, which was completed in July.
The Brazilian-born di Grassi envisions Roborace as a complementary racing series to traditional motorsports. He aims to attract carmakers, suppliers and technology companies to use the series to develop and refine automated technologies for future production vehicles.
Roborace plans to use the 2017/2018 season, which starts Dec. 2 in Hong Kong, to develop a flexible format for the competition that can adapt to the rapid developments in electric and autonomous industries. Initially, the automated vehicles likely will compete against each other’s timed solo laps.
RELATED CONTENT
-
On Electric Pickups, Flying Taxis, and Auto Industry Transformation
Ford goes for vertical integration, DENSO and Honeywell take to the skies, how suppliers feel about their customers, how vehicle customers feel about shopping, and insights from a software exec
-
Choosing the Right Fasteners for Automotive
PennEngineering makes hundreds of different fasteners for the automotive industry with standard and custom products as well as automated assembly solutions. Discover how they’re used and how to select the right one. (Sponsored Content)
-
Jeeps Modified for Moab
On Easter morning in Moab, Utah, when the population of that exceedingly-hard-to-get-to town in one of the most beautiful settings on Earth has more than doubled, some people won’t be hunting for Easter eggs, but will be trying to get a good look at one of the vehicles six that Jeep has prepared for real-life, fast-feedback from the assembled at the annual Easter Jeep Safari.
