When the Indy Autonomous Challenge racing series made its CES debut last year, the concept of self-driving cars traveling at speeds approaching 170 mph attracted considerable attention.
"There was, I think, a lot of shock and awe that it was even possible in today's day and age," said Paul Mitchell, CEO of Energy Systems Network, the race producer.
The Indy Autonomous Challenge returns to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday, Jan. 7, with bigger brains and brawn powering its race cars.
Approximately 10,000 event-goers have registered to attend the race as of Dec. 20. That's a five-fold increase from the 2,000-person crowd last year, an audience limited by pandemic-related restrictions, Mitchell said.
Nine university-affiliated teams are eligible to compete. Their software must still pass safety checks before they qualify. Those that do will showcase hardware improvements that include bigger turbochargers on the identical Dallara AV-21 base v…