Drone racing

Now they're beating us in real-world sports: an AI has dominated world-champion drone racers head-to-head

Drones

For the first time, AI dominates humanity's best in a real-world sport

High-speed drone racing has just had a shocking "Deep Blue" moment, as an autonomous AI designed by University of Zurich researchers repeatedly forced three world champion-level pilots to eat its dust, showing uncanny precision in dynamic flight.

A first look at the striking design of the Airspeeder Mk4 racing eVTOL

Aircraft

Airspeeder prepares for crewed eVTOL racing with Mk4 design reveal

Following more than 350 test flights and two demonstration races of its remotely piloted Airspeeder Mk3 eVTOL, Alauda Aeronautics has revealed the design for the first crewed racer – which boasts a top speed of 360 km/h and a range of 300 km.

Airspeeder remote pilot Zephatali Walsh (silver) has secured victory against fellow remote flyer Fabio Tischler (black) in the first EXA Series eVTOL race

Aircraft

First Airspeeder EXA Series eVTOL race takes off in South Australia

After nailing a remotely piloted eVTOL drag race last year, and successfully completing its 250th test flight recently, Alauda Aeronautics has now announced the winner of its first uncrewed Airspeeder EXA race above the salt flats of South Australia.

Alauda Aeronautics has announced the successful completion of 250 test flights for the Airspeeder flying race car

Aircraft

Airspeeder clocks up 250th test flight ahead of Grand Prix race series

What began with an unsuccessful Kickstarter in 2017 is about to break out as a thrilling new aerial sport later this year, following the announcement by Alauda Aeronautics of the successful completion of its 250th Airspeeder racing eVTOL test flight.

The Magenta 5G Drone will see its first official use later this week

Drones

Magenta 5G drone set to provide live HD footage of sporting events

While drone racing is becoming increasingly popular as a televised sport, the live video from the drones' onboard cameras still leaves something to be desired. T-Mobile and The Drone Racing League are addressing that problem, with a new 5G drone.

Smoke used to illustrate the complex aerodynamics drone pilots, human or machine, have to deal with

Drones

Autonomous racing drone claims landmark victory against human pilots

Through a novel algorithm that can plot a flight path with great efficiency, scientists at the University of Zurich are now claiming to have demonstrated an autonomous drone that can beat human pilots in a race.

Debut flights of the Airspeeder Mk3 were recently undertaken at undisclosed desert locations in the South Australia

Aircraft

Airspeeder flying race car takes to the air over South Australian desert

Matt Pearson's Alauda Aeronautics has released footage of engineers remotely piloting its full-size Airspeeder Mk3 multirotor electric "flying car" ahead of international teams taking the controls for the first EXA racing series later in the year.

This full-sized aerobatic multicopter can carry a passenger and pull extreme aerobatic tricks – just not at the same time – not yet, anyway

Aircraft

World's first manned aerobatic drone shown pulling loops and rolls

This racy-looking 12-rotor coaxial multicopter has been filmed in Croatia pulling extreme rolls and loops, and carrying a human on board. Not at the same time, mind you, but still, to see a drone of this size pulling stunts like this is astonishing.

Drones

Autonomous drones go to the races for $1 million in cash

Drone racing with human pilots at the controls has quickly evolved from an underground hobby to a fully fledged professional sport. But for its 2019 season, the Drone Racing League introduced a new kind of competition.

The DRL Racer4 Street drone is raising funds on Kickstarter

Drones

Drone Racing League launches street version of pro racing drone

The 2019 Drone Racing League Allianz World Championship Season is due to take off on August 11, where a dozen top pilots will be racing 600 custom-built Racer4 drones. For the first time, the Drone Racing League is making a street-ready version of its latest pro flyer available to consumers.

Drones

Drone racing is going HD, with new FPV gear from DJI and Fat Shark

Those who aren't involved in drone racing will probably be surprised to know that HD vision isn't already the standard in drone racing goggles – but that's set to change with some really nice new integrated gear from DJI, and an immediate counter-attack from Fat Shark for the DIY crowd.

The autonomous racing drone developed at TU Delft weighs just 72 g

Drones

World's smallest autonomous racing drone created by Dutch scientists

Scientists at TU Delft have developed what is claimed to be the smallest autonomous racing drone on the planet, a feat that involved some serious innovations in the algorithms that control its flight path.