Formula 1 is planning to introduce a new in-race television graphics package which will be powered by artificial intelligence.
The project was explained by F1 managing director of motorsport Ross Brawn at a Las Vegas conference with one of the sport’s partners Amazon Web Services that will be a force behind the system.
It is anticipated that the collaboration, which will use Amazon’s machine learning tool Sagemaker, will deliver a suite of graphics designed to offer more engaging information to the viewers.
“For next season we are expanding ‘F1 Insights’ for our viewers, by further integrating the telemetry data such as the car position, the tyre condition, even the weather, so we can use ‘Sagemaker’ to predict car performance, pit stops and race strategy,” said Brawn.
“(There will be) some exciting new AI integrations into next year’s F1 TV broadcast.”
Brawn explained a range of scenarios where the system could be employed.
The graphics will be able to indicate tyre wear to fans, determine the likelihood for an overtake when focussed on an in race battle between competitors and analyse pit stops.
“We know that somebody is in trouble; his rear tyres are overheating,” said Brawn.
“We can look at the history of the tyres and how they have worked and where he is in the race, and machine learning can help us apply a proper analysis of the situation.
“We can bring that information to the fans and make them understand if the guy is in trouble or if he can manage the situation.
“These are insights the teams always had but we are going to bring them out to the fans and show them what is happening.
“Wheel-to-wheel racing is the essence, a critical aspect of the sport and now with machine learning and using live data and historical data, we can make predictions about what is going to happen.
“Stopping at the right time and fitting the right tyre can win or lose a race.
“We are going to take all the data and give the fans an insight into why they stopped and when they stopped – did the team and driver make the right call?”
F1 owners Liberty Media upgraded its television graphics package for this season as it looks to build fan interaction.
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