The Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League has gone from a bold experiment to a full-scale global showcase in just a year. The glow of Yas Marina Circuit now reflects a very modern kind of motorsport. What began as an audacious idea to pit driverless formula cars, drones, and off-road buggies against one another has quickly evolved into a high-budget engineering spectacle. But is AI racing truly ready to take over the human role?

Created by ASPIRE and ATRC, the league is intentionally designed to push autonomous systems into high-pressure, competitive scenarios. The core of the series is the “Car Race” category, where Dallara Super Formula SF-23 chassis are retrofitted with actuators, LIDAR, radar, and racks of computing hardware in place of a driver. These cars provide university teams and tech labs with the opportunity to push AI-controlled vehicles beyond 200 kph in a controlled yet realistic environment. But cutting-edge design does not always equate to cutting-edge performance.

One of the most talked-about moments from a recent A2RL race proved that better than anything else. A brilliant overtake by one of the leading autonomous cars was followed by a sudden, disastrous crash. The vehicle had barely completed the move when an abrupt steering correction on the next turn completely destabilized it.

With no human instinct to countersteer or save the slide, the AI misjudged the angle, over-corrected, and sent itself spinning into the barriers. It was a harsh reminder that raw processing power does not guarantee racecraft, and that machine decision-making can fall apart in situations a human driver might handle with muscle memory.

The incident spread quickly online, sparking conversations about how artificial intelligence still struggles with the subtleties that make motorsport so unpredictable. Engineers pointed to sensor latency and imperfect trajectory planning as likely causes. In traditional racing, a sudden snap or an unexpected slide is where the best drivers show their brilliance. In autonomous racing, those same moments can expose the limits of machine logic.

And that brings us to the reception. While A2RL continues to draw international attention and investment, a growing slice of the motorsport community is not convinced. Traditional fans argue that racing is about bravery, instinct, and personalities, not datasets and algorithms.

To them, moments like this chaotic crash only reinforce the feeling that AI might be impressive in theory but uninspiring in practice. As the clip of the failed overtake continues to circulate, many motorsports fans are making it clear that they are not a fan of this new direction. On X, they quickly showed their disappointment.

Fans choose in Man vs AI

“How do you think we get to that point?” Some of the most vocal critics are wondering exactly how autonomous racing ended up as a “real sport” in the first place. Their skepticism isn’t unfounded. In A2RL’s debut at Yas Marina in April 2024, things quickly spiraled into a technical mess. According to multiple reports, several self-driving cars spun out, collided, or stalled during qualifying.

One car even triggered a yellow flag that other AIs misinterpreted; they stopped on the track, thinking the race was over. With such obvious flaws still front and center, critics argue that the project feels more like a high-cost engineering experiment than a legitimate racing league.

“Nobody can die. No potential heroes. No glory… Top F1 drivers would probably beat AI.” This is a very real concern among traditional motorsport fans. In driverless racing, there is no risk to a human life, and with that comes a different kind of emotional tension. A2RL cars are controlled by AI systems running on sensors like LiDAR, GPS, and radar, not human reflexes or courage.

Without a human driver, the drama of “saving it on the edge” or heroic last-lap maneuvers disappears. Some tech commentators agree. While autonomous systems are improving, they still struggle with split-second decisions. And as for beating AI, there is evidence that AI still isn’t superhuman in every way. Daniil Kvyat, a former F1 driver, raced an A2RL car and beat it by over 10 seconds in a head-to-head run.

“Stop pushing this rubbish. Nobody wants it.” There is a strong undercurrent of resentment among fans who feel A2RL isn’t about entertainment; it is about tech spectacle. For many, autonomous racing lacks the visceral thrill of traditional motorsport.

In fact, some early coverage called its first broadcast “underwhelming” and “slightly cringe-worthy,” noting that the cars were slow, made weird mistakes, and felt more like lab robots than racecars. That sentiment plays out in social media and forums, where people argue that money and R&D drive this league more than real racing passion.

“This is how geeks race … boring comes to mind!” This comment might sting, but it is not entirely off-base. A2RL’s core is engineering, not driving. One thousand plus symposium attendees at the first A2RL event saw a lot of sensor fusion, algorithm optimization, and data analysis, but relatively little wheel-to-wheel excitement.

Ars Technica called one of the races “real, terrible, and strangely exciting,” noting that much of the spectacle felt more like a test-lab than a high-stakes challenge. For purist racing fans, the idea of watching software govern a car’s every move, with fewer human “mistakes”, doesn’t hit the same adrenaline notes.

“Reporting on CLANKER racing… shows how little these companies care about us having real drivers and personalities…” There is a real feeling among some fans that A2RL’s hype erodes the human connection that makes motorsport compelling. Big industry media outlets and racing sites are covering A2RL pretty seriously, and some fans see that as a betrayal of real motorsport heritage.

In the first season, ASPIRE and ATRC drew an audience of more than 10,000 at Yas Marina and over 600,000 global streams in just 12 hours. Meanwhile, former F1 driver Daniil Kvyat raced an autonomous car as part of a demonstration event, but the real push is clearly technological.

The league’s main draw is engineering prowess, not driving legend. These fans worry that celebrating AI racing risks normalizing “cars without souls”, racing devoid of the personalities, rivalries, and heroism that built motorsport into a popular spectacle.