Formula E announces the world's first driverless car racing series

From 2016, the Formula E race series will include a championship for autonomous, driverless cars. The global championship is set to be called 'ROBORACE'.

The Formula E autonomous championship will feature ten teams, each fielding two cars in a one hour race. All teams will be provided with the same cars, but will be open to develop their own computing algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The cars will race at over 300km/h (186mph).

Denis Sverdlov, Founder of Kinetik and RoboRace, said: "We passionately believe that, in the future, all of the world's vehicles will be assisted by AI and powered by electricity, thus improving the environment and road safety.

"RoboRace is a celebration of revolutionary technology and innovation that humanity has achieved in that area so far. It's a global platform to show that robotic technologies and AI can co-exist with us in real life. Thus, anyone who is at the edge of this transformation now has a platform to show the advantages of their driverless solutions and this shall push the development of the technology."

Though locations and dates for the 2016/17 Formula E championship are yet to be confirmed, London's Battersea Park will play host to theis season's finale.