The Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League is heading to Italy. The series will make its international debut at Imola on September 5, taking the UAE-born autonomous motorsport series to one of Europe’s most historic circuits.
The race will feature up to five fully autonomous cars based on the Dallara Super Formula SF23. Reigning champion Tum from Germany will be joined by Italy’s Unimore Racing and PoliMove. The UAE’s Kinetiz and Germany’s Constructor Racing will compete in qualification events for the remaining grid places.
Organised by Aspire, the technology transition arm of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council, A2RL has moved quickly from an experimental public test bed at Yas Marina Circuit into one of the UAE’s most visible technology platforms. The Imola race marks a major step towards the series' ambition of becoming the world’s first international championship for fully autonomous race cars.
This move gives the series a tougher test after two seasons in Abu Dhabi. A2RL has progressed from a world-first four-car autonomous race to a six-car Grand Final featuring wheel-to-wheel racing at more than 250kph. A2RL’s autonomous racecars are built on the Dallara Super Formula SF23 and use sensors, software agents and AI decision-making systems to race without a driver.
Developing Autonomous Technology
The 2026 season will still conclude at Yas Marina Circuit, bringing the series back to the city where it began. Before then, A2RL will have to prove that its technology can travel from a familiar home circuit to a track that has tested generations of human drivers.
Alessandro Tucci, Executive Director of Aspire’s House of Grand Challenges, coordinates major challenge-based technology programmes including A2RL. He says the decision to leave Yas Marina was calculated.
“We do not want just to have another race,” he says. “Otherwise, we could have it here, and there would be a 99 per cent probability that there would be another success at Yas Marina. They know the circuit. They have raced here already. The underlying concept is that we need to develop autonomous technology. That is the objective.”
Precision at Imola
Imola sits in Italy’s Motor Valley, the Emilia-Romagna region associated with some of the world’s best-known automotive and motorsport brands. The circuit is known for elevation changes, narrow racing lines, limited run-off areas and difficult overtaking zones.
Those qualities make the environment unforgiving for human drivers. Autonomous cars face a different kind of test there, one built around software, sensor integration, engineering strategy and real-time decision-making.
“Imola is the perfect testbed for the top A2RL teams to demonstrate their racing capabilities on an extremely challenging track,” Tucci says. “Imola does not allow for half-measures. It rewards precision, control and courage, which makes it the right circuit for autonomous racing to show what it can do under real pressure.”
The challenge is not simply to make a car go quickly around an empty circuit. The harder problem is traffic and how one autonomous system reacts while several others are making their own decisions.
Frequently asked questions
When is the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League racing at Imola?
The Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League will race at Imola on September 5, marking its first international test outside the UAE.
Which teams are competing in the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League at Imola?
The race will feature teams from the UAE, Germany, and Italy, including reigning champion Tum from Germany, Italy's Unimore Racing and PoliMove, and the UAE's Kinetiz.
What kind of cars are used in the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League?
The A2RL's autonomous racecars are built on the Dallara Super Formula SF23 and use sensors, software agents, and AI decision-making systems to race without a driver.
Why is the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League racing at Imola?
The Imola race marks a major step towards the series' ambition of becoming the world’s first international championship for fully autonomous race cars, testing technology in a new and challenging environment.
