Burnout. Burn rubber. Peel out. Skid mark. These are terms you may not be familiar with, unless you are a fan of drag racing. In that case, you know that a “burnout” is when a driver deliberately spins the rear wheels while keeping the car stationary just prior to a race, usually generating an impressive cloud of smoke (and sometimes flames, if there is a sufficient concentration of volatile organic compounds in the smoke). However, the purpose of the burnout is not to impress the spectators but rather to heat up the tires, which increases the friction between the tires and the track, thus enabling faster acceleration during the race.

Similarly, “burning rubber” and “peeling out” refer to any driver deliberately causing the wheels to spin against the pavement, usually during initial acceleration. This practice has died out in recent years, due to the introduction and near-universal adoption of electronic traction control (ETC) in modern automobiles. The on-board computer detects when the wheels begin to slip on the road and immediately reduces the power being delivered to prevent wheel spin.

Skid marks are the victim of the same technology, except during deceleration. The same wheel speed sensor detects when the wheels are starting to slip during braking and automatically reduce braking, also a universally adopted strategy, usually known as the anti-lock braking system (ABS). Skid marks were once nearly universally visible at intersections with stop signs or traffic lights, as drivers would at least periodically misjudge the distance to the stop line and “lock up” the wheels, resulting in the dark-colored rubber of the tires being deposited in near-straight lines on the roadway. Today, the best place to see skid marks is at your nearest airport, about one-third of the way down any runway. As airplanes touch down, their wheels need to accelerate from near-zero to the airplane’s landing speed (typically around 200 km/hr for a modern jet).

Automobile racing is all about operating a vehicle at the limits of friction between the tires and the track. Accelerating, braking and steering the car as fast as possible along the most efficient path ultimately determines the winner of the race. Clearly ABS and ETC would be vital elements in an automated race car, but how close are we to a self-driving race car?

According to Scientific American,¹ we are closer to a self-driving race car than you might think. Using artificial intelligence and machine learning, a program called Gran Turismo Sophy was turned loose on a virtual track to try to achieve the fastest time. Following the learning trials, the program was then tested against actual Gran Turismo champions. Within a few trials, the program was consistently beating the humans. Emily Jones, 2020 finalist in the Gran Turismo Championships, after losing to the program, commented “... it was crazy to see something that was the perfect lap. There was no way to go any faster.”

Of course, that’s on a virtual track in a laboratory. Are computers about to take over from humans in automobile racing, the same way we’ve ceded supremacy in chess, Go, Jeopardy and numerous other games? Probably!

REFERENCE
1. Bushwick, S. (May 2022), “AI champions,” Scientific American, pp. 13-14.

Ed Becker is a Fellow and Past President of STLE. He is currently president of Friction & Wear Solutions, LLC and can be reached through his website at www.frictionandwearsolutions.com.