In Formula 1, success often boils down to precise measurements of time and distance, where drivers meticulously navigate corners for optimal lap times. However, there are instances when racers exceed boundaries in pursuit of an advantage. To address this, F1 is set to test an AI system to aid officials in determining if a car’s wheels completely cross the white boundary line.
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The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the governing body of motorsport, announced the use of Computer Vision tech during the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. This method involves shape analysis to ascertain the number of pixels that cross the track’s edge.
The FIA’s current plan doesn’t involve fully automating reviews of track limit breaches; instead, the focus is on significantly reducing potential rule violations sent for manual review by officials.
Following July’s Austrian Grand Prix, which necessitated four individuals to review approximately 1,200 potential violations, and with certain track limit violations going unpunished in October’s US Grand Prix, officials acknowledged the need for a new approach, leading to the incorporation of Computer Vision.
Computer Vision, previously utilized in medicine for analysing data from cancer screenings, is employed not for diagnosing cancer but to streamline the review process. The objective is to discard cases where there is evidently no violation, allowing human reviewers more time for the remaining instances.
The FIA aims to diminish the number of potential infringements requiring manual review by officials to around 50 per race. The goal is to eliminate cases that are evidently clear and do not necessitate human intervention.
Although the FIA won’t fully rely on AI for race calls in the immediate future, there is an expectation that it will play an increasing role. Despite the current superiority of human judgment in specific areas, there is a belief that real-time automated policing systems will ultimately shape the future of Formula 1 officiating.
