World’s first driverless racecars hit 155 mph in Abu Dhabi and it takes a dramatic turn

The world’s first driverless racecars just went wheel-to-wheel in Abu Dhabi, and the speeds were anything but soft-launch.

For the first time, fully autonomous machines lined up on a real grid, on a real circuit, and pushed past 155mph with no humans in the cockpit.

It was a glimpse of what high-speed racing looks like when algorithms take the risks and the track becomes a testbed.

And just when it seemed like the story was smooth sailing, the night took a dramatic turn.

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The driverless racecars in a showdown that didn’t go to plan

Six autonomous racecars rolled onto Yas Marina Circuit for the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL) Grand Final, with Germany’s TUM team sitting on pole and Italy’s Unimore right behind them.

TUM had the clean start but Unimore had the momentum, closing the gap almost immediately and pulling off a sharp overtake at Turn 6 before Lap 2 ended.

From there, the race turned into a high-speed chess match. 

The two frontrunners ran within a second of each other for more than half the 20-lap distance, both clearing 155 mph like it was nothing. 

Every move came from onboard AI reading traffic, predicting behavior, and committing to decisions in milliseconds.

Then the whole night flipped.

As the leaders caught slower traffic, Unimore tried to slip past Germany’s Constructor team mid-corner. 

But the timing just wasn’t there. 

Unimore clipped the back marker, and both cars went off-track. 

TUM threaded through cleanly and held the lead all the way to the flag, securing the championship. 

Although Unimore still walked away with the Fastest Lap Award – proof of just how quick their systems have become.

Abu Dhabi’s autonomous vision

Abu Dhabi’s role in this race goes far beyond hosting.

The UAE is using A2RL as a public stage for its autonomous ambitions.

The awards were presented by senior UAE leadership, including His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and His Excellency Faisal Al Bannai.

The same Al Bannai who helped conceive the championship. 

He described A2RL as a place where ambition and engineering collide under real pressure. 

He also called it a public testbed for the systems that will soon move through cities and industries.

And the pace of progress is jolting. 

Now in just its second season, A2RL has become the world’s largest autonomous racing event. 

Teams are already reporting that their cars are matching, and in some sessions surpassing, human benchmark laps.

Every race becomes a stress test for perception systems, decision-making algorithms, and high-speed robotics.

All unfolding where the world can watch.

If this is where autonomous racing stands today, the next chapter won’t just raise the speed.

It’ll raise the stakes for every industry watching.

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