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India Today
09-06-2025
- India Today
In a first, AI beats human champions in drone racing competition in Abu Dhabi
In a huge moment for technology and racing, an AI-powered drone from the Netherlands has beaten some of the world's best human pilots in a real-life racing contest. The race, held in Abu Dhabi over the weekend, was part of the A2RL x DCL Autonomous Drone Championship — a major event focused on pushing the limits of autonomous flight. The AI drone, built by a team from MavLab at TU Delft University, won a direct race against a top human pilot in what organisers say was the most challenging head-to-head drone race ever event was hosted at ADNEC Marina Hall in Abu Dhabi and brought together 14 teams from across the world, including countries like South Korea, Mexico, Canada, Turkey, China, and the UAE. Each team had to rely entirely on artificial intelligence to control their drones — no remotes, no joysticks, and no human pilots. The drones raced at speeds of over 150 km/h through a tricky, winding indoor track filled with wide gates, uneven lighting, and very few visual MavLab's AI drone wasn't just fast — it was smart. It completed two laps of a 170-metre course in only 17 seconds. This was enough to win not just the AI Grand Challenge but also a one-on-one race against a professional human drone racer, who had qualified through the DCL Falcon Cup. The AI drone's win over the human pilot was the most talked-about moment of the All the drones were equipped with the same hardware: a forward-facing camera, a motion sensor, and a Jetson Orin NX computing unit made by NVIDIA. With just this onboard tech, each drone had to make split-second decisions in real time. There was no help from the outside — everything from identifying the course to adjusting speed and direction had to be done by the drone say this was one of the hardest drone races ever attempted. Even the lighting inside the hall and the type of camera used (a rolling shutter camera) made it difficult for the AI systems to perform smoothly. Still, the top teams handled the challenge impressively, showing just how far autonomous technology has event also included other race formats like drag races and multi-drone matches, with teams like TII Racing and MavLab winning big. A STEM programme run alongside the event trained over 100 Emirati students in drone operations, showing the wider impact of this growing this drone race now complete, all eyes are on the next big thing — A2RL's self-driving car racing series, set to return in late 2025 at Yas Marina Circuit.
Mid East Info
30-04-2025
- Sport
- Mid East Info
DCL Expands Operations in the UAE Following Breakthrough A2RL x DCL Championship - Middle East Business News and Information
As it scales up its presence in the UAE, DCL sets out to redefine drone flying through competition, content, culture, and technology over the next five years Abu Dhabi, UAE April 2025: Following the landmark A2RL x DCL Autonomous Drone Championship Finale held on 11 and 12 April 2025 at ADNEC Marina Hall, Drone Champions League (DCL) has announced it is scaling up its footprint in the UAE as part of its next phase of global growth. The expansion marks a pivotal next step in DCL's evolution from elite racing league to global technology and culture platform. The two-day event—organised in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL)—brought together elite teams from across the US, Asia, Europe, and beyond, competing for a $1 million prize pool. MavLab (TU Delft) delivered a standout performance across multiple formats, claiming victories in the AI Grand Challenge and AI Drag Race, while also securing a strong result in the AI vs Human showdown—highlighting the progress of autonomous flight technology and underscoring DCL's role in shaping the future of drone racing. Building on this momentum, DCL's expansion to the UAE marks a strategic turning point and reinforces its wider five-year plan to evolve from a competitive global league into a cultural and technological movement. Backed by regional innovation partners and a long-term vision already in motion, DCL will lead the next chapter of drone racing anchored by its deepening ties to the UAE. Its roadmap spans competition, education, media, gaming, and fashion—positioning the league not only as a premier sporting platform but as a driving force in youth culture and next-gen technology. 'The UAE is the ideal launchpad for what comes next,' said Markus Stampfer, Executive Chair of Drone Champions League. 'From elite competition to immersive media and real-world tech applications, DCL will shape how the world sees and experiences drones. The vision is not just to push boundaries in speed and performance — but to inspire a generation, build careers, and unlock the full potential of autonomous systems in everyday life.' As DCL charts its next phase in the UAE, future plans include the development of dedicated infrastructure to support elite drone training, community engagement, and real-world innovation. Among the ideas under consideration are large-scale flight arenas, next-generation pilot certification programmes, and interactive learning hubs designed to bring the excitement of drone technology to a wider public. DCL is also expanding its creative and digital footprint through the DCL Media House—its content and storytelling division—aimed at producing cinematic drone footage, behind-the-scenes stories, athlete profiles, and original series in collaboration with extreme sports icons and content creators. A free-to-play version of DCL – The Game, the league's professional-grade simulator, is expected to launch globally, opening the door for aspiring pilots from all backgrounds to compete, train, and qualify for live events. At the heart of DCL's vision is a cultural shift: connecting with Gen Z and Gen Alpha through a multi-dimensional ecosystem that merges esports, real-world racing, streetwear, and STEM education. Initiatives in development include global education partnerships, lifestyle collaborations, and industry events that bring together voices from technology, gaming, entertainment, and youth culture. With a growing footprint in the UAE, DCL aims to contribute to the region's momentum in AI and autonomous mobility by creating new professional pathways—from drone engineers to creative technologists—while helping to shape an inclusive, future-ready foundation of skilled professionals. Looking ahead, DCL will unveil a global racing calendar and introduce new virtual environments based on iconic real-world locations, as it continues to expand its reach across physical and digital platforms.
Gulf News
18-04-2025
- Science
- Gulf News
Watch: AI drone beats human pilot in Abu Dhabi's $1 million prize pool autonomous race
Abu Dhabi: AI is no longer learning from humans – it's starting to beat them. In a major breakthrough for autonomous flight and aerial robotics, an AI-powered drone has outpaced human pilots in a global competition held in Abu Dhabi. The Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL), a project under the Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), in collaboration with the Drone Champions League (DCL), hosted one of the world's most sophisticated drone races at ADNEC Marina Hall. A total of 14 international teams made it to the finals week, competing for a $1 million prize pool. Teams from the UAE, Netherlands, Austria, South Korea, the Czech Republic, Mexico, Turkey, China, Spain, Canada, and the US represented university labs, research institutes, and deep-tech startups. The highlight? MavLab, from the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, secured victories in three out of four competitions. They clinched the AI Grand Challenge with their drone completing two laps of the 170-metre course in just 17 seconds. MavLab won the world's first AI-only drag race, demonstrating straight-line speed and precision under intense acceleration. In a landmark moment, MavLab's autonomous drone defeated three top DCL champion pilots in a head-to-head AI-versus-human showdown. With precision flying, the AI-powered drone edged out its human-piloted rivals in thrilling contests. (Watch the video) 'Winning three top titles is a huge milestone for our team,' said Christophe De Wagter, team principal of MavLab. 'I always wondered when AI would be able to compete with human drone racing pilots in real competitions. I'm extremely proud of the team that we were able to make it happen already this year.' The results, he underlined, validates years of research and experimentation in autonomous flight. 'To see our algorithms outperform in such a high-pressure environment and take home the largest share of the prize pool, is incredibly rewarding,' De Wagter noted. Meanwhile, Technology Innovation Institute (TII), Abu Dhabi, bagged the multi- autonomous drone AI race in a high-speed challenge that tested coordination, navigation, and collision avoidance between multiple autonomous units. How did they race? Each team raced a standardised drone equipped with a compact computing module, a forward-facing camera and an inertial measurement unit. With zero human input, the drones relied solely on real-time processing and AI-driven decision-making, hitting speeds of more than 150 km/h through a challenging course. The race environment pushed the boundaries of perception-based autonomy, with wide gate spacing, irregular lighting, and minimal visual markers. To raise the difficulty, the event used rolling shutter cameras – further testing each team's ability to achieve fast, stable performance in visually sparse conditions. This was the first time an autonomous drone race of this scale and complexity was held under such constraints, underscoring the technical sophistication of the event.
Mid East Info
17-04-2025
- Mid East Info
Artificial Intelligence Triumphs in World's Most Sophisticated Autonomous Drone Race in Abu Dhabi - Middle East Business News and Information
AI Drone Beats Human Pilot in Most Sophisticated and Challenging Series set up by A2RL x DCL Autonomous Drone Championship, Marking a Breakthrough in Autonomous Flight Innovation Over 2500 Spectators Watch Best Autonomous Drone Racers Battle it Out for $1M Prize Pool Across Four Cutting-Edge Race Formats, Mavlab (TU Delft) Dominates the Championship with Three Wins in the AI Grand Challenge, AI Drag Race and AI Vs Human; TII Racing (Technology Innovation Institute, Abu Dhabi) Wins the AI Multi-Autonomous Drone Race Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: The Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL), part of the Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), in collaboration with the Drone Champions League (DCL), concluded the inaugural A2RL x DCL Autonomous Drone Championship in the Middle East, at ADNEC Marina Hall, Abu Dhabi, UAE. In a major breakthrough for autonomous flight and aerial robotics, Team MavLab's AI drone outpaced a world-leading human pilot to win the AI vs Human Challenge. The head-to-head duel was the most complex ever staged, featuring finalists from the DCL Falcon Cup—some of the top drone pilots in the world. Over two high-intensity days, 14 international teams qualified for the finals week, with the top four advancing to compete across multiple challenging race formats. Teams from the UAE, Netherlands, Austria, South Korea, the Czech Republic, Mexico, Turkey, China, Spain, Canada and the USA represented a mix of university labs, research institutes, and startup innovators. Each team raced a standardized drone equipped with the compact yet powerful NVIDIA Jetson Orin NX computing module, a forward-facing camera, and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) for onboard perception and control. With no human input, the drones relied entirely on real-time processing and AI-driven decision-making to reach speeds exceeding 150 km/h through a complex race environment. The course design pushed the boundaries of perception-based autonomy—featuring wide gate spacing, irregular lighting, and minimal visual markers. The use of rolling shutter cameras further heightened the difficulty, testing each team's ability to deliver fast, stable performance under demanding conditions. This marked the first time an autonomous drone race of this scale and complexity was staged on such a visually sparse track, underscoring the ambition and technical challenge of the event. Championship Highlights AI Grand Challenge Winner : MavLab (TU Delft) set the fastest time on the 170-meter course, completing two laps (22 gates) in just 17 seconds. : MavLab (TU Delft) set the fastest time on the 170-meter course, completing two laps (22 gates) in just 17 seconds. AI vs Human Showdown Winner : MavLab's autonomous drone outpaced top human pilot—in a landmark AI vs Human showdown. : MavLab's autonomous drone outpaced top human pilot—in a landmark AI vs Human showdown. Multi-Autonomous Drone Race Winner : TII Racing emerged victorious in the multi-drone format, in a high-speed test of AI coordination and collision avoidance. : TII Racing emerged victorious in the multi-drone format, in a high-speed test of AI coordination and collision avoidance. Autonomous Drag Race Winner: MavLab (TU Delft) claimed victory in the world's first AI-only drag race, demonstrating straight-line speed and control under high acceleration against the championship's top teams. 'At ATRC, we believe innovation must be proven in the real world, not just promised,' said H.E. Faisal Al Bannai, Adviser to the UAE President for Strategic Research and Advanced Technology Affairs, and Secretary-General of ATRC. 'A2RL is more than a race, it's a global testbed for high-performance autonomy and reflects the UAE's commitment to advancing AI, robotics, and next-gen mobility responsibly.' 'The future of flight doesn't live in a lab – it lives on the racetrack,' said Stephane Timpano, CEO of ASPIRE, the hosting entity of the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League. 'What we saw this weekend brings us closer to scaling autonomous systems in everyday life.' Markus Stampfer, Executive Chairman of DCL, added: 'We brought elite racing conditions to autonomous flight—and the AI rose to the challenge. This was a major leap for both sport and technology.' Ecstatic after clinching three top titles, Christophe De Wagter, team principal of MavLab, shared 'Winning the AI Grand Challenge and the AI vs Human race is a huge milestone for our team. It validates years of research and experimentation in autonomous flight. To see our algorithms outperform in such a high-pressure environment and take home the largest share of the prize pool, is incredibly rewarding.' The A2RL X DCL Drone STEM Program, designed in collaboration with UNICEF and under the supervision of the ATRC, has trained over 100 Emirati students this year. Over 60% earned the prestigious Trusted Operator Program certification and 24 achieved perfect scores, showcasing the cutting-edge aviation skills being developed as part of the program. With the drone finale now in the books, all eyes turn to Season 2 of A2RL's autonomous car racing series, set for Q4 2025 at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.
Khaleej Times
17-04-2025
- Science
- Khaleej Times
Watch: Human pilot, AI race their drones in Abu Dhabi; who won?
A drone piloted by AI has convincingly beaten a human-controlled machine in an international drone racing competition in Abu Dhabi, marking a significant milestone in the development of artificial intelligence and autonomous flight. It also marked a global first, where AI outpaced human pilots 'in a race of such scale, speed and complexity featuring some of the top drone pilots in the world,' organisers of the inaugural A2RL (Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League) x DCL (Drone Champions League) Autonomous Drone Championship said on Wednesday. The AI-piloted drone of Team MavLab from Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), The Netherlands) outdone a world-leading human pilot to win the AI vs Human Challenge, one of the four race formats. Team Mavlab also dominated two other races, including the AI Grand Challenge, where it set the fastest time on the 170-meter course by completing two laps (22 gates) in just 17 seconds. The same team from TU Delft also claimed top spot in the Autonomous Drag Race, touted as the world's first AI-only drag race. Team Mavlab demonstrated straight-line speed and control under high acceleration against other top teams. Meanwhile, TII Racing (Technology Innovation Institute, Abu Dhabi) won the AI Multi-Autonomous Drone Race, a high-speed test of AI coordination and collision avoidance. The goal of the competition was to push the frontier of AI. The drone had access to just one forward-looking camera, a major difference from previous autonomous drone races. This is more similar to how human first-person view (FPV) pilots fly, and leads to additional perception challenges for the AI. Head-to-head duel The head-to-head duel between AI and humans was the most complex ever staged. 'With no human input, the drones relied entirely on real-time processing and AI-driven decision-making to reach speeds exceeding 150 km/h through a complex race environment,' the organisers noted. Watch the video below: The course design pushed the boundaries of perception-based autonomy— featuring wide gate spacing, irregular lighting, and minimal visual markers. Each team raced a standardised drone equipped with the compact yet powerful Nvidia Jetson Orin NX computing module, a forward-facing camera, and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) for onboard perception and control. The use of rolling shutter cameras (a type of image capture in cameras that records the frame line by line instead of capturing the entire frame all at once) further heightened the difficulty, testing each team's ability to deliver fast, stable performance under demanding conditions. 'This marked the first time an autonomous drone race of this scale and complexity was staged on such a visually sparse track, underscoring the ambition and technical challenge of the event,' the organisers added. Christophe De Wagter, team principal of MavLab, said: 'Winning the AI Grand Challenge and the AI vs Human race is a huge milestone for our team. It validates years of research and experimentation in autonomous flight. To see our algorithms outperform in such a high-pressure environment and take home the largest share of the prize pool, is incredibly rewarding." For two days, 14 international teams qualified for the finals week, with the top four advancing to compete across multiple challenging race formats. Teams from the UAE, Netherlands, Austria, South Korea, the Czech Republic, Mexico, Turkey, China, Spain, Canada and the USA represented a mix of university labs, research institutes, and startup innovators, and battled it out for the $1million prize pool across four race formats. How AI won? The team of scientists and students from TU Delft won the competition by developing an efficient and robust AI system, capable of split-second, high-performance control. They noted: 'Whereas earlier breakthroughs, like AI defeating world champions at chess or Go, have taken place in virtual settings, this achievement happened in the real world. Two years ago, the Robotics and Perception Group at the University of Zürich was the first to beat human drone racing champions with an autonomous drone. However, that impressive achievement occurred in a flight lab environment, where conditions, hardware, and the track were still controlled by the researchers – a very different situation from this world championship, where the hardware and track were fully designed and managed by the competition organisers.' Team Mavlab created one of the core new elements of the drone's AI that did not require to send control commands to a traditional human controller, but directly to the motors. The deep neural networks were able to mimick the outcomes of traditional algorithms with less processing time. Real-life applications 'The highly efficient AI developed for robust perception and optimal control are not only vital to autonomous racing drones but will extend to other robots,' noted Wagter, explaining: 'Robot AI is limited by the required computational and energy resources. Autonomous drone racing is an ideal test case for developing and demonstrating highly-efficient, robust AI.' Speed is a very important element since drones have a very limited battery capacity. This means, the faster they fly, the more distance they can cover. 'Flying drones faster will be important for many economic and societal applications, ranging from delivering blood samples and defibrillators in time to finding people in natural disaster scenarios. Moreover, we can use the developed methods to strive not for optimal time but for other criteria such as optimal energy or safety. This will have an impact on many other applications, from vacuum robots to self-driving cars,' Wagter added. Meanwhile, the A2RL X DCL Drone STEM Program, designed in collaboration with Unicef and under the supervision of Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), has trained more than 100 Emirati students this year. 'At ATRC, we believe innovation must be proven in the real world, not just promised,' said Faisal Al Bannai, adviser to the UAE President for Strategic Research and Advanced Technology Affairs, and secretary-general of ATRC. He underscored 'A2RL is more than a race, it's a global testbed for high-performance autonomy and reflects the UAE's commitment to advancing AI, robotics, and next-gen mobility responsibly.'
