Daniil Kvyat is used to racing against the world’s elite racing drivers, whether that be in Formula One or more recently endurance racing in the WEC and IMSA with Lamborghini.

But in Abu Dhabi he competed against a driverless AI car as part of a 10-lap showcase to kick off the second season of the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL).

Launched in 2024, the A2RL racing series is focussed on purely autonomous vehicles. It involves Dallara-built Super Formula spec single seaters operated by competing teams of engineers.

The autonomous car, operated by reigning A2RL champions TUM, was given a head start as the sun set around the Yas Marina Circuit.

Kvyat chased hard but was ultimately unable to overtake the autonomous car as machine prevailed over man.

The Russian driver, who raced in F1 between 2014 and 2020, has previously faced an A2RL autonomous car twice before and the overall score now sits at 2-1 in favour of the three-time F1 podium finisher.

At the inaugural event around the Yas Marina Circuit in 2024, Kvyat beat the autonomous car by a margin of around 10 seconds.

A second race around Suzuka last November proved more challenging for the autonomous EAV24 car, which crashed on its warm-up following a surge of wheelspin at the turn 11 hairpin.

The A2RL car racing series debuted in 2024, with single-seater racing just one of three A2RL formats. The other two categories are autonomous drone racing and driverless off-road buggy racing.

This year, 11 teams are competing for a prize of $2.25m in the A2RL series.

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