What if the Indy 500 led the world in autonomous racing?

A photo I took from an Indy 500 practice day in the pits, 2004.

(This article was originally shared on LinkedIn — May 25, 2017)

Let’s play the word association game.

When I say Indianapolis, what’s the first thing you think of: innovation or auto racing?

While Indy’s brand has historically been the, “racing capital of the world,” I’d like to suggest a fresh angle. (To read more about why that’s important from my friend Andrew Davis, read Town, Inc.)

A track record of innovation

As a bit of history, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was founded in 1909 by Carl G. Fisher, created as a proving grounds for the automotive industry. The signature race, the Indianapolis 500, hosted the world’s best race teams to compete and push their machines around the track for 500 miles.

While it may not seem like much today, in the early days of the automobile, the idea of designing and mass producing a vehicle that could be safely driven for 500 miles or more, was innovative to say the least. But the Speedway wasn’t just a place for manufacturers to test technology — it was also a place to demonstrate this idea to consumers.

Especially in the early days of the automobile, people may have lacked confidence that one of these motorized carriages were safe to ride in at all, let alone something worthy of carrying their family over the river and through the woods.

Let’s get racing again

Fast forward to May, and we’re coming up on the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” once again.

And while it’s fun to see the little details that the race has added — dashboard cams, high-def, slow-mo footage, and a younger, more hip marketing campaign, the 500 is no longer really pushing the envelope of automotive technology.

But why not?

New innovations need proving grounds

Today, we’re in the early days of a new technology, unsure if it’s safe for our families to participate — autonomous vehicles. Why isn’t Indianapolis front and center of proving out this new (and frankly, unproven) technology?

Maybe the folks in Speedway are already working on this problem, but from my vantage point, we are standing by as Silicon Valley leaders (Google, Apple, Uber, and Tesla) are in hot pursuit of solving this problem.

If Indianapolis’ brand is really based on this idea of automotive racing and being a proving grounds for the industry, why aren’t we owning this concept of driverless racing technology?

To put this differently, if our grandparents needed reassurance that their car can go around a racetrack for 500 miles, how much more do our children, and heck, probably all of us need reassurance that driverless technology is going to be safe for making it to home from work and school?

I’d like to propose we call it the “Auto500,” a brand new, autonomous 500-mile race. Imagine a companion race over Memorial Day Weekend, where the top automotive and technology brands race around the track at white-knuckle speeds, without a single human-piloted vehicle.

Can you imagine how exciting that would be?

Not to mention, it would attract the best brands in technology — Uber, Google, Apple, Tesla — and the automotive industry leaders like Ford, BMW, Toyota, and others to take up shop in Indianapolis… drawing more attention to our amazing city, and creating real jobs in the process.

What’s in it for Indianapolis?

New brands, new teams, new sponsors, new technologies, new fans… all drawn to the same yard of bricks.

Do you think automobile innovators will restart their engines in Indy?

Seems like a winner to me.

What do you think?

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I’d love to hear from you too, so please share this article with your friends and let me know what you think in the comments below.

Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts.

Future innovators, start your engines.