First-ever World Drone Prix wraps up with $250,000 win for Brit teen

By Trevor Mogg Published March 14, 2016

Banni UK's FPV as he takes on Dutch Drone Race Team

A team of drone racers led by a 15-year-old Brit blew away more than 30 rivals in the first ever World Drone Prix in Dubai over the weekend, securing the winners a tasty $250,000 prize in the process.

The contest tested pilots’ skills in handling high-speed quadcopters, with competitors required to navigate a neon-lit course made up of multiple tight turns and other obstacles such as hoops dotted along the track.

Recommended Videos

Teen Luke Bannister (pictured) from Somerset in south-west England shares the cash prize with his team, Tornado X-Blades Banni UK.

Competitors navigated the track wearing goggles showing a live video feed from their camera-equipped flying machine as it hurtled around the course.

Judging by first-person videos posted on YouTube, the “Terror Tower” appeared to be one of the trickier parts of the challenge, a section that forced pilots to make a sudden elevation before navigating a hoop and continuing on.

During the 12-lap races of the 600-meter track, all pilots had to take on the twisting “Joker Lane” at least once, and also had to make quick decisions about whether to use optional shortcuts. Occasional pitstops were necessary, too, so the drones could undergo speedy battery swaps.

Prize money for the event totaled $1 million, with other winners picking up awards for fastest lap, finishing second, and best freestyle performances.

The World Drone Prix is the brainchild of several Dubai-based groups with an interest in the technology, with the event set to be hosted by other cities around the world throughout this year.

At the weekend’s award ceremony, the United Arab Emirates government also announced plans for next year’s inaugural World Future Sports Games that’ll see robots battling it out in swimming, running, wrestling, and car racing events. By then, we’re assuming the competing bots will be a bit more reliable than those that bit the dust in hilarious fashion during DARPA’s Robotics Challenge Finals last year.

Topics

Contributing Editor

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

Cars

Range Rover’s first electric SUV has 48,000 pre-orders

Land Rover Range Rover Velar SVAutobiography Dynamic Edition

Range Rover, the brand made famous for its British-styled, luxury, all-terrain SUVs, is keen to show it means business about going electric.

And, according to the most recent investor presentation by parent company JLR, that’s all because Range Rover fans are showing the way. Not only was demand for Range Rover’s hybrid vehicles up 29% in the last six months, but customers are buying hybrids “as a stepping stone towards battery electric vehicles,” the company says.

Cars

BYD’s cheap EVs might remain out of Canada too

BYD Han

With Chinese-made electric vehicles facing stiff tariffs in both Europe and America, a stirring question for EV drivers has started to arise: Can the race to make EVs more affordable continue if the world leader is kept out of the race?

China’s BYD, recognized as a global leader in terms of affordability, had to backtrack on plans to reach the U.S. market after the Biden administration in May imposed 100% tariffs on EVs made in China.

Cars

Tesla posts exaggerate self-driving capacity, safety regulators say

Beta of Tesla's FSD in a car.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is concerned that Tesla’s use of social media and its website makes false promises about the automaker’s full-self driving (FSD) software.
The warning dates back from May, but was made public in an email to Tesla released on November 8.
The NHTSA opened an investigation in October into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with the FSD software, following three reported collisions and a fatal crash. The investigation centers on FSD’s ability to perform in “relatively common” reduced visibility conditions, such as sun glare, fog, and airborne dust.
In these instances, it appears that “the driver may not be aware that he or she is responsible” to make appropriate operational selections, or “fully understand” the nuances of the system, NHTSA said.
Meanwhile, “Tesla’s X (Twitter) account has reposted or endorsed postings that exhibit disengaged driver behavior,” Gregory Magno, the NHTSA’s vehicle defects chief investigator, wrote to Tesla in an email.
The postings, which included reposted YouTube videos, may encourage viewers to see FSD-supervised as a “Robotaxi” instead of a partially automated, driver-assist system that requires “persistent attention and intermittent intervention by the driver,” Magno said.
In one of a number of Tesla posts on X, the social media platform owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a driver was seen using FSD to reach a hospital while undergoing a heart attack. In another post, a driver said he had used FSD for a 50-minute ride home. Meanwhile, third-party comments on the posts promoted the advantages of using FSD while under the influence of alcohol or when tired, NHTSA said.
Tesla’s official website also promotes conflicting messaging on the capabilities of the FSD software, the regulator said.
NHTSA has requested that Tesla revisit its communications to ensure its messaging remains consistent with FSD’s approved instructions, namely that the software provides only a driver assist/support system requiring drivers to remain vigilant and maintain constant readiness to intervene in driving.
Tesla last month unveiled the Cybercab, an autonomous-driving EV with no steering wheel or pedals. The vehicle has been promoted as a robotaxi, a self-driving vehicle operated as part of a ride-paying service, such as the one already offered by Alphabet-owned Waymo.
But Tesla’s self-driving technology has remained under the scrutiny of regulators. FSD relies on multiple onboard cameras to feed machine-learning models that, in turn, help the car make decisions based on what it sees.
Meanwhile, Waymo’s technology relies on premapped roads, sensors, cameras, radar, and lidar (a laser-light radar), which might be very costly, but has met the approval of safety regulators.