Formula E: DS Automobiles uses artificial intelligence to optimise performance

The engineers at DS Automobiles have also been using artificial intelligence in their research and development programmes for Formula E for some time now. The models developed by the Stellantis Group brand are designed to help with data analysis in real time.

Artificial intelligence has made great leaps in development in recent years and is now so widespread in many areas that it is almost impossible to do without it. Motorsport is no exception. At DS Performance, the motorsport division of French manufacturer DS Automobiles, an entire team is working on utilising artificial intelligence in research and development for Formula E drives.

The artificial intelligence developed by and at DS estimates physical values of the vehicle in real time. The so-called "virtual sensors" of the car are used as part of the onboard system of the racing cars and help the self-developed software of the racing cars to improve performance.

The data collected by the artificial intelligence supplements the information provided by the physical sensors of the Gen3 Evo vehicles, including acceleration, steering angle, tyre pressure and wheel speeds. When analysing the battery data, for example, the software can help the team to optimise the strategy in order to better manage the race.

Artificial intelligence also used to analyse TV graphics

Of particular interest: with the help of artificial intelligence, DS engineers can also analyse data from other sources more easily. This includes the energy levels of all the vehicles on the grid. The special thing about this is that these are not available to the teams in any way, but are only displayed in the graphics of the TV broadcast. These are automatically read out by the artificial intelligence and made available to the engineers for further processing.

This means that the information is available to the DS technical crew much more quickly. Together with other information, such as the number and duration of the remaining attack mode activations, the time gaps between the vehicles and the remaining number of laps, the race strategy can be optimised.

"The use of artificial intelligence has been rapidly absorbed into all our different research and development programmes," describes Eugenio Franzetti, Director of DS Performance. "Formula E is of course an extremely demanding competition that makes it necessary to adopt the most ground-breaking solutions, which our engineers are able to master perfectly."