Politecnico di Milano back to 1000 Miglia
With its research project "1000 Miglia Autonomous Drive" (1000 MAD)", the Politecnico di Milano is playing a leading role in one of the most ambitiousself-driving experiments on public roads ever.
In fact, on the occasion of the 1000 Miglia 2024, the Politecnico's driverless car was authorised to drive over 1000 km on roads open to traffic, in a real and complex context, marking a significant step in the progress of smart and sustainable mobility.
This is an extraordinary milestone, made possible thanks to the cooperation of a number of organisations that manage the road infrastructure crossed by the 1000 Miglia: Municipalities, Provinces, Autostrade per l'Italia, ANAS S.p.A., Veneto Strade and Astral S.p.A.
The car used will be the brand new and iconic Maserati GranCabrio Folgore, featuring a fully electric power supply. It is a unique vehicle, characterised by a special livery designed by the Centro Stile Maserati. The Politecnico di Milano research team has installed the full 'robo-driver' system in the car, with a new hardware configuration and advanced, revamped software, the result of numerous road tests over the past 12 months.
The ‘robo-driver’ will be backed up by a human ‘co-driver’ (supervisor or ‘safety-driver’) in order to comply with the authorisation requirements for experimentation (Ministerial Decree 70 ‘smart-roads’). Also in the 2024 1000 Miglia the safety-driver will be an exceptional one: Matteo Marzotto, an experienced driver and member of the Board of Directors of 1000 Miglia srl, with many years of experience in the historic 1000 Miglia.
The link between human driver and artificial intelligence will be visually represented by an AVATAR (developed by the Department of Design of Politecnico di Milano) made of plexiglass and characterised by blue LED-lit plates, representing the concept of innovation and future driven by Artificial Intelligence. It will accompany the co-driver throughout the entire route of the 1000 Miglia 2024. The Department of Design also conceived and designed the new teamwear, specifically dedicated to the new year of experimentation.
Sergio Savaresi, Scientific Project Manager and Director of the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering at the Politecnico di Milano, explains:
After the debut in the 1000 Miglia 2023, this year the Politecnico team is tackling the 1000 Miglia 2024 with many sections authorised for experimentation on roads open to traffic; it is the ideal platform for the development of autonomous driving on these roads over the next 12 months, with the aim of bringing this technology to our cities and enabling new, safer and more sustainable mobility models.
Donatella Sciuto, Rector of the Politecnico di Milano, states:
1000 MAD is an emblematic project for the Politecnico di Milano,the leading technical university in Italy, which confirms itself as a pioneer in the field of self-driving vehicle technology and the development of new models of sustainable mobility. It does so through the excellence of its laboratories and the expertise of young researchers who are not afraid to take up the challenge of innovation.
The 1000 MAD project gave rise to the larger AIDA - Artificial Intelligence Driving Autonomous project, which aims to develop self-driving car technology as an enabler for the transition to safer and more sustainable future mobility models in urban areas.
The project, created in cooperation with 1000 Miglia srl, is part of the MOST (National Centre for Sustainable Mobility), has the patronage of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, and is supported by the sponsors Movyon, Cisco and Redfield, as well as the contribution of numerous technical suppliers.
The path and progress of the Maserati GranCabrio Folgore's autonomous journey can be followed on the social media profiles the AIDA project (Instagram: aida.polimi, Linkedin: aida-polimi) where updates and exclusive content will be posted in real time.