A2RL, the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League, is the world’s largest autonomous racing series created by ASPIRE to accelerate next generation mobility. It brings together global university and research teams to advance high performance AI systems in full public view. Season 2 or A2RL cars marked a major milestone with the world’s first six car autonomous Grand Final, where teams reached speeds above 250 km/h and delivered record overtakes, split second decision making, and a human versus AI benchmark that finished within 1.58 seconds of a professional Formula 1 driver.

Alongside cars, A2RL is building the world’s most advanced autonomous drone racing platform. The drone series tests vision-based navigation, multi agent coordination, and high-speed manoeuvring in environments that mirror real world operational demands. The new Season 2 format introduces a 27 by 38-meter indoor arena with complex obstacles, including a split S and ladder structure, giving teams a challenging testbed to refine flight control algorithms under pressure.