IBM F1 AI Racing Competition 2026

Formula 1 has always held a special place in our interests. The competitiveness, the speed, and the precision required at every moment of a race weekend are things we deeply admire. Even though we didn’t pursue a path as a racing drivers or mechanical engineers, that passion has remained.

Instead, we chose a career in Computer Science and Mathematics. At first glance, this might seem unrelated to Formula 1. However, the overlap between modern motorsport and computational methods is becoming increasingly significant. While we are not an aerodynamicists or mechanical engineers, pursuing a path into F1 through AI, machine learning, and software engineering is more tangible than ever!

This brings us to an exciting opportunity: the IBM F1 AI Racing Competition 2026. The challenge blends state-of-the-art AI/ML techniques with a deceptively simple objective — be the fastest.

Unlike traditional student Formula competitions, this challenge focuses entirely on software. The goal is to design, train, test, and deploy a fully autonomous AI model capable of controlling a Formula 1-style car in the Open Racing Car Simulator (TORCS), a 1997 open-source racing simulator that, despite its age, offers surprisingly rich physics and has long been used in autonomous driving research.

Our White Monster Racing Team is a student research collaboration between two universities: Masaryk University in Brno (Czechia) and Comenius University in Bratislava (Slovakia). Together, we aim to push the boundaries of autonomous driving research in a controlled but highly competitive environment.

While TORCS may seem like “just a game,” it has historically played an important role in developing early approaches to autonomous racing and driving systems. What might appear simple at first glance often becomes a meaningful “playground” for real-world AI research.

We’re excited to take on the challenge — and to see just how fast we can go :)