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Indy Autonomous Challenge Adds Head-to-Head Racing in 2026

By Drooid · Sep 17, 2026, 4:58 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Story summary

The Indy Autonomous Challenge will replace solo time trials with head-to-head road-course passing in 2026.
Purdue AI Racing set a 1:27.731 autonomous lap record at Laguna Seca on Sept. 3.
Italy’s Unimore Racing won the head-to-head passing competition at Laguna Seca, beating Purdue’s car.
Five university teams from North America, Europe and Asia fielded identical driverless cars at Laguna Seca.
Researchers use racetracks to stress-test autonomous-driving software at speeds over 150 mph.

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Story summary

The Indy Autonomous Challenge will replace solo time trials with head-to-head road-course passing in 2026.
Purdue AI Racing set a 1:27.731 autonomous lap record at Laguna Seca on Sept. 3.
Italy’s Unimore Racing won the head-to-head passing competition at Laguna Seca, beating Purdue’s car.
Five university teams from North America, Europe and Asia fielded identical driverless cars at Laguna Seca.
Researchers use racetracks to stress-test autonomous-driving software at speeds over 150 mph.