A2RL 2026 tests vision-only AI drones at racing speeds

The 2026 Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL) Drone Championship, held at UMEX in Abu Dhabi, showcased high-speed autonomous drone racing under strict sensor limitations. Fourteen international teams competed using drones equipped solely with a single forward-facing RGB camera, an IMU, and onboard AI, with no LiDAR, stereo vision, or external control allowed. The event featured three race formats: the AI Speed Challenge, the Multi-AI Drone Challenge, and the headline Human vs AI race, with a total prize pool of $600,000. The competition emphasized software-driven autonomy over hardware complexity, aiming to replicate the sensory limitations of human FPV pilots and push advances in perception, planning, and control algorithms. Key results included the Technology Innovation Institute’s TII Racing team achieving the fastest autonomous lap at 12.032 seconds in the AI Speed Challenge, and MAVLAB winning the Multi-Drone Gold Race, demonstrating reliable multi-agent coordination and collision avoidance under race conditions. In the closely