The machines are closing in fast. Former Formula 1 racer Daniil Kvyat narrowly defeated the reigning autonomous champion in a gripping man-versus-machine showdown at Yas Marina Circuit on Saturday night, winning by just 1.58 seconds – a fraction of the 10-second margin he enjoyed 18 months ago.
In the headline Human vs AI challenge that capped the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL) Season 2 Grand Final, Kvyat posted a best lap of 57.57 seconds against TUM’s driverless HAILEY car, which recorded 59.15 seconds.
The Russian crossed the line just ahead after a rolling-start pursuit, delighting thousands trackside as the AI era edged ever closer.
Germany’s Technical University of Munich (TUM) successfully defended its title in the world’s largest autonomous race, leading a six-car Grand Final after a dramatic battle with Italy’s Unimore.
The pair traded the lead at over 250 km/h before Unimore collided with a backmarker while attempting an overtake, handing victory to TUM. TII Racing (UAE) finished second and PoliMOVE (Italy) third from a starting grid of eleven international teams competing for a $2.25 million prize pool.
The event, part of the inaugural Abu Dhabi Autonomous Week, drew over 8,000 spectators and showcased overtakes, real-time AI decision-making and lap times now within touching distance of human benchmarks.
Kvyat said the progress was “staggering”, noting the gap had fallen from minutes to fractions of a second in under two years. TUM team principal Prof. Markus Lienkamp hailed the “rapid improvement” that produced a race-long duel decided only by misfortune.
Organisers say A2RL is accelerating autonomous development far beyond the circuit, with applications for road cars, drones and urban mobility. For now though, the stopwatch tells a simple story: the human still leads – but only just.
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