{"id":25030,"date":"2020-03-25T10:40:24","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T14:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=25030"},"modified":"2020-03-27T10:41:46","modified_gmt":"2020-03-27T14:41:46","slug":"is-virus-inspired-enascar-a-glimpse-at-the-autonomous-racing-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2020\/03\/is-virus-inspired-enascar-a-glimpse-at-the-autonomous-racing-future","title":{"rendered":"Is virus-inspired eNASCAR a glimpse at the autonomous racing future?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"speakable-p-1 p-text\">Former General Motors vice chairman and car guru\u00a0Bob Lutz created a buzz in the auto world\u00a0three years ago when he described a dystopian future in which professional drivers would safely pilot their race cars remotely while fans watched online.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable-p-2 p-text\">America got a taste of such a future last weekend.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-SlRhZt0EDFE\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/03\/24\/PDTN\/3a6152cd-b0a4-4e07-b9f4-6df3e327f1bb-enascar_tv.JPG?width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Looks like real racing: The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational race last weekend at the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway might preview a world in which autonomous cars are driven remotely.\" width=\"540\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/03\/24\/PDTN\/3a6152cd-b0a4-4e07-b9f4-6df3e327f1bb-enascar_tv.JPG\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/03\/24\/PDTN\/3a6152cd-b0a4-4e07-b9f4-6df3e327f1bb-enascar_tv.JPG\" \/>Looks like real racing: The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational race last weekend at the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway might preview a world in which autonomous cars are driven remotely.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Henry Payne, The Detroit News)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">With the U.S.\u00a0auto industry in lockdown and professional racing canceled due to the COVID-19 crisis,\u00a0major race\u00a0series televised virtual races featuring top-name drivers remotely driving their cars. For sure, the cars weren\u2019t autonomous, but the experience was similar: fans got to witness a thrilling race free of the threat of injury.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational race at the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway, for example,\u00a0was put on via\u00a0iRacing&#8217;s popular online game platform and broadcast via\u00a0Fox Sports 1. Viewers saw a thrilling, crash-filled race with NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Daytona 500-winner Denny Hamlin dueling to the stripe. But Hamlin\u2019s victory came without the carnage that accompanied his\u00a0real-life Daytona win this January that sent competitor Ryan Newman to the emergency ward after a harrowing last-lap pileup.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-SlRhZt1p0H4\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/03\/24\/PDTN\/28f74da5-ca33-40d2-954b-5f79eeb62d49-enascar_incar.JPG?width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational race at the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway featured in car views as well as track views of the race on FS1.\" width=\"540\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/03\/24\/PDTN\/28f74da5-ca33-40d2-954b-5f79eeb62d49-enascar_incar.JPG\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/03\/24\/PDTN\/28f74da5-ca33-40d2-954b-5f79eeb62d49-enascar_incar.JPG\" \/>The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational race at the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway featured in car views as well as track views of the race on FS1.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Henry Payne, The Detroit News)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cI insist that autonomous racing would be fantastic to watch,\u201d Lutz told The News in 2017. \u201cA\u00a0battle of the sensors and adaptive software. There would be huge progress, and\u00a0on the way to human-level perfection, spectacular crashes \u2014\u00a0but with nobody hurt! What&#8217;s not to like?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The NASCAR race\u00a0\u2014 and the IMSA Sebring sports car event and Formula One Bahrain Grand Prix that were also virtually run this weekend \u2014\u00a0are\u00a0experiments meant to entertain\u00a0fans in a desperate time. But they also dovetail with a zero-risk era where public venues have shut down for fear of transmitting the\u00a0virus, and auto companies promise a future of zero fatalities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cZero, zero, zero,\u201d is the new mantra of GM, for example.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cGeneral Motors has committed itself to leading the way toward this future, guided by our vision of zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion,\u201d wrote Mary Barra in 2017 describing\u00a0an autonomous, battery-powered transportation revolution that she said would eliminate 1.25 million global auto fatalities, global warming\u00a0and time-killing traffic jams.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Her vision dovetailed with Lutz\u2019s own prediction of a self-driving\u00a0future\u00a0at Road &amp; Track magazine\u2019s 70th anniversary at the 2017 New York Auto Show, and again in an Automotive News column. Lutz sees a future\u00a0where autonomous, ride-hailing services like Uber, Lyft\u00a0and Cruise would crowd out personal driving.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cThe tipping point will come when 20-30%\u00a0of vehicles are fully autonomous. Countries will look at the accident statistics and figure out that human drivers are causing 99.9% of the accidents,\u201d wrote Lutz.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-SlRhZt0sK_s\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/03\/24\/PDTN\/857cb277-b921-4e41-b961-e59bade3a36b-enascar_cars.JPG?width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"NASCAR used Massachusetts-based iRacing's popular online game platform to televise its eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational race at the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway.\" width=\"540\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/03\/24\/PDTN\/857cb277-b921-4e41-b961-e59bade3a36b-enascar_cars.JPG\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/03\/24\/PDTN\/857cb277-b921-4e41-b961-e59bade3a36b-enascar_cars.JPG\" \/>NASCAR used Massachusetts-based iRacing&#8217;s popular online game platform to televise its eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational race at the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Fox Sports, Fox Sports)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Racing would soon follow, with autonomous\u00a0events promising zero-risk entertainment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The idea horrified racing legend Mario Andretti, who appeared on a panel with Lutz at\u00a0the Road &amp; Track anniversary.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cYou&#8217;re talking about autonomous cars?\u201d Andretti recalled in an Automobile magazine interview about the evening. \u201cI don&#8217;t know. I wish I would have had a magic wand to look into the future a little bit, but there is cause for concern. Just thinking of the young talent, the young careers, looking forward, I&#8217;m always concerned about that, because I love the sport so much.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">On the virtual, eNASCAR track Sunday, young and old talent mixed. Chase Briscoe, an up-and-coming 25-year-old with Ford in NASCAR\u2019s Xfinity minor-league series raced fender-to-fender against NASCAR Cup stars like Hamlin and Jimmy Johnson.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Retired superstar Earnhardt, now a TV analyst, also competed to amp up the entertainment.\u00a0He retired\u00a0in 2017 for fear of injury after multiple concussions over his career. Racing insiders say virtual, autonomous racing would spare drivers injury.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The eNASCAR Homestead race\u00a0was\u00a0broadcast with NASCAR\u2019s familiar play-by-play trio of Mike Joy, Jeff Gordon and Larry McReynolds \u2014 each socially distanced from the other.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-SlRhZt0rQpE\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/03\/24\/PDTN\/9c77d657-7d20-4ef3-8384-aed4c14cb074-enascar_anthem.JPG?width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Country singer Dylan Scott sang the national remotely for the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational race at the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway.\" width=\"540\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/03\/24\/PDTN\/9c77d657-7d20-4ef3-8384-aed4c14cb074-enascar_anthem.JPG\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2020\/03\/24\/PDTN\/9c77d657-7d20-4ef3-8384-aed4c14cb074-enascar_anthem.JPG\" \/>Country singer Dylan Scott sang the national remotely for the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational race at the virtual Homestead-Miami Speedway.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Henry Payne, The Detroit News)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The\u00a0field of racers all participated remotely via\u00a0home computer simulators ranging from Hamlin\u2019s estimated $10,000-plus setup to Timmy Hill\u2019s more basic, off-the-shelf Logitech hardware. The racing around the virtual, 1.5-mile oval speedway was tight and full of wrecks given the wide range of experience at computer racing. The damage inhibited cars&#8217;\u00a0performance just as in real life, but racers were given two opportunities to \u201creset\u201d their cars to keep racing if the damage got too bad.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Virtual cars carried their usual corporate sponsors including automakers Chevy, Ford\u00a0and Toyota.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cThere&#8217;s not another sport that can simulate to this degree,\u201d marveled Joy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Veteran racing auto writer Steven Cole Smith, who covered the weekend&#8217;s virtual racing for Autoweek.com, was unconvinced that computer-based\u00a0or autonomous racing is the future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cI hope I don\u2019t live long enough to see that,\u201d he said, musing on the inherent risk in racing that inspired Ernest Hemingway to write: \u201cAuto racing, bullfighting\u00a0and mountain climbing are the only real sports. All others are games.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">For his part, Lutz says the virtual weekend racing gave a glimpse at the inevitable future. \u201cWith passing and crashing, it will soon be as much fun as watching the real thing. You could even imagine a future master-computer that randomly feeds in mechanical failures, including yellow-flag \u2018debris on track.\u2019&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The virtual racing series will continue in the weeks ahead,\u00a0joined by an IndyCar e-race at Michigan International Speedway next weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former General Motors vice chairman and car guru\u00a0Bob Lutz created a buzz in the auto world\u00a0three years ago when he described a dystopian future in which professional drivers would safely pilot their race cars remotely while fans watched online. America got a taste of such a future last weekend. Looks like real racing: The eNASCAR [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25030"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25030"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25031,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25030\/revisions\/25031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}