Roborace announces Michelin as official tire sponsor

Roborace is out to prove race drivers are not needed

Michelin has been working secretly at its testing facilities and sharing over 125 years of its expertise with Roborace to develop an exclusive solution for the ultimate ‘Robocar’, designed by Daniel Simon, which will feature next-generation Michelin road tires to be used in the series.

Roborace partners with the best suppliers in the world to push the limits of autonomous development to places never imagined.

The tires are critical as they must be capable of handling the speeds and rigors of a new format of racing when the Roborace series begins.

Equally, the tires must be suitable for use on standard road cars, as one of the key goals of the series is to develop software and hardware that accelerates the speed to market of driverless technology that will benefit the end consumer.

Michelin is the third global partner to be officially announced by Roborace, after NVidia, which will provide Robocar’s A.I. brain with Drive PX2 technology, and Charge, the smart electric truck maker which will supply all power electronics.

“We are extremely proud to have Michelin as our partner. We expect our partners to be bold and to believe in a driverless future where our cities are greener, safer, quieter and smarter in ways that improve everyday lives, Denis Sverdlov, CEO, Roborace, said.

“Michelin impressed us every time we met and they deeply understand the powerful opportunity of what road travel will become. They are pushing us, and themselves, to develop a world that moves from possibility to reality.

“Their commitment to safety and innovation, and the way we inspire each other to design the best possible solutions makes this a perfect partnership."

“We are very excited to confirm our partnership with Roborace today.

“We have been following the championship’s progress very closely and have been testing privately with them for some time.

“We are very impressed by the speed at which Roborace has been developing driverless technology and hardware for its championship.

“Driverless technology is coming and we want to be at the forefront in terms of research and development.

“At Michelin, we have always been committed to innovation and using global events and motorsport to take our products to the next level, Roborace now provides us with a unique opportunity to apply our expertise and knowhow to the world of autonomous cars. Michelin wants to help shape the future, not just be a part of it," Pascal Couasnon, Michelin Motorsport Director said.

Michelin is one of the world’s most prominent tire manufacturers and has a long tradition of involvement in motorsport.

The French firm is also founding partner and exclusive tire supplier to the FIA Formula E Championship featuring full-electric cars for which Michelin Motorsport has developed the revolutionary energy-efficient MICHELIN Pilot Sport EV2.

Roborace is currently in its Beta season appearing at Formula E circuits for exhibitions using its development car ‘DevBot’. The official unveiling of the championship’s Ultimate car will take place in 2017.

Roborace, as well as being a driverless racing series, provides a platform for the world’s most innovative technology and for automotive companies to test and explore their hardware and software capabilities aimed at helping accelerate their speed to market.

Roborace is documenting the entire process of bringing together the world’s first driverless electric racing championship.

The series – Inside Roborace – is available on demand on YouTube and the latest episode on Friday December 16th focuses on the development and testing of Roborace’s specific Michelin tires at the French company’s base in Clermont-Ferrand.