The Maserati MC20 Cielo equipped with an entire ‘robo-driver’ system and driven by the AI developed by the Milan Polytechnic, which took part in the 2023 edition of the 1000 Miglia, will climb the ramps of the Malegno-Ossimo-Borno as the lead car. It will be the first time in a hill-climb race.
Brescia, 1 July 2024 – The Automobile Club Brescia proudly announces the collaboration with the Politecnico di Milano and the team of young researchers led by Professor Sergio Savaresi on the occasion of the 53rd Trofeo Vallecamonica, the hill-climb race valid for the FIA European Hill Climb Championship 2024, the Italian Supersalita Championship 2024 and the Italian Mountain Speed Championship 2024.
The Camuno event, which returns to the continental series 18 years after the last time and will be included among the six competitions also valid for the Italian Supersalita Championship, has made an important agreement with the ‘AIDA: Artificial Intelligence Driving Autonomous’ project of the Politecnico di Milano, which aims to test autonomous driving technology in the most challenging contexts with the aim of revolutionising the future concept of mobility. The initiative is a flagship project part of the National Centre for Sustainable Mobility MOST, funded by the European Union under the PNRR NextGenerationEU programme – Mission 4.2.
For the first time in a hill-climb competition, thanks to the Politecnico di Milano, an autonomously driven Maserati MC20 Cielo will climb the ramps of the 53rd Trofeo Vallecamonica as a forerunner, marking the absolute debut in a hill-climb race of an AI-driven vehicle.
This is a strong push of innovation and vision on the part of the Trofeo Vallecamonica, which year after year raises the bar of the competition not only from a sporting point of view, but also in terms of media and side events. In fact, the MC20 Cielo will also be on display at the presentation press conference, scheduled for Thursday, 11 July at 11.30 a.m. at the headquarters of the Comunità Montana di Vallecamonica in Breno, as well as at the Borno skating track near the closed park.
Prof. Sergio Savaresi:.
“We are thrilled to collaborate with the Vallecamonica Trophy on this pioneering initiative. The possibility of using an autonomous car in a closed-road sports competition represents an extraordinary opportunity to demonstrate the technological progress achieved in recent years by the Politecnico di Milano in the field of autonomous driving technology. The Maserati MC20 Cielo is the perfect vehicle for this experiment, and we are confident that the “AIDA” project will contribute significantly to the evolution of autonomous mobility by taking up the important technological challenge that the 53rd edition of the Trofeo Vallecamonica will allow us to exploit”.
