Five Driverless Cars Race at Imola
Tuesday, September 22, 2026191 words3 minutes1164 reads
On 5 September 2026, five fully autonomous race cars competed at Imola Circuit in Italy. Team Kinetiz won A2RL’s first international race. The team brings together Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, K2 in the UAE, and Alp Autonomy. Kinetiz started fourth, yet finished 10.963 seconds ahead of Constructor Racing from Germany.
The event was Europe’s first five-car autonomous race, but not the world’s first multi-car autonomous race. A2RL had already staged a six-car final in Abu Dhabi in 2025. At Imola, identical EAV-25 hardware meant that the teams’ software—perception, prediction, planning, and vehicle control—made the difference.
Multi-car racing tests more than a fast lap. A system must interpret traffic, choose a trajectory, and decide whether to attack, defend, or overtake while avoiding a collision. Imola added elevation changes, limited run-off, and difficult overtaking zones. During the race, Unimore slowed with a technical issue and PoliMOVE collided with it; both cars stopped racing.
A2RL calls racing a testbed for AI and autonomous mobility. High-speed results do not prove that every public road is ready. Still, testing perception and real-time decision-making under pressure can reveal weaknesses and provide useful data for future research.
