Drone Racing League Pits Autonomous Drones Against Human Pilots

Autonomous drones will now attempt to beat human-piloted drones on courses such as this. (Courtesy of the Drone Racing League)

The Drone Racing League and Lockheed Martin are hoping to spur the creation of autonomous racing drones that can outpace those piloted by humans.

This week, the two organizations announced a competition, dubbed the AlphaPilot Innovation Challenge, that will challenge teams to develop artificial intelligence to pilot drones without any human intervention. More than $2 million in prizes will be available for winning teams.

The drones will race human-piloted drones through challenging multi-dimensional race courses in DRL’s new Artificial Intelligence Robotic Racing…