Six international teams have secured their place in the upcoming six-car autonomous racing Grand Final, taking place on 15th November 2025 at Yas Marina Circuit.
The Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL) is expecting a great race, with reigning champions TUM leading the grid after they set the fastest qualifying performance.
Record-Breaking Laps
This year’s qualifying rounds had 11 teams from around the world compete in Abu Dhabi. The qualifying week has already made some impressive talking points. For example, Italy’s Unimore team set a new autonomous lap record of 58.87 seconds. That lap was 0.07 seconds faster than the time set by a professional driver during earlier data collection runs. This makes it the fastest ever autonomous lap on Yas Marina’s North Circuit.
The record was set during the Pace Qualification phase, where teams had three 15-minute windows to post their best times. That was followed by four 12-lap heats in the Multi-Car Qualification.
“This season, we’re pushing the boundaries of autonomous racing even further and redefining what is possible. From week to week, we are seeing ‘machine’ capabilities rapidly approaching human performance – even surpassing some human benchmark times set during data collection. This week, Unimore has thrown down the gauntlet with a record-breaking lap time. Next month, we will witness six formidably competitive teams race for victory. Last year’s A2RL Champion TUM is in pole position, but given the intense competition during qualification, the Grand Final in November is set to be an exhilarating conclusion!”
Stephane Timpano, CEO of ASPIRE
The Final Six
Joining TUM and Unimore in the final six are Kinetiz, TII Racing, PoliMOVE, and Constructor. Representing four different countries, the six finalists will compete in a 24-lap head-to-head race. This is the largest autonomous race of its kind.
As well as the Grand Final, the other five teams will compete in a separate Silver Race time trial. Former F1 driver Daniil Kvyat will also be on the track as he will be racing an autonomous car in a Human vs AI demonstration.
“We are proud to have demonstrated that an autonomous race car can deliver close to human capabilities. The competition was fierce, with many teams bringing extensive experience and strong technical resources. Our autonomous stack proved not only to be the fastest but also the safest, skillfully exploiting the kerbs to avoid a collision during TUM’s overtake. We can’t wait to be back on track for the Grand Final on November 15, pushing our software to the absolute limit in pursuit of first place.“
Ayoub Raji, Co-Lead of Unimore Racing
Abu Dhabi Autonomous Week
This year’s A2RL final is part of the first-ever Abu Dhabi Autonomous Week (ADAW), a six-day programme bringing together experts from across the AI, robotics, and mobility sectors. The week includes the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Summit, the DRIFTx Exhibition, and RoboCup Asia-Pacific. All of this is as a result of the UAE’s growing focus on next-gen tech innovation.
List of Teams in Grand Final (in order of qualification)
- TUM Autonomous Motorsport (Technical University of Munich – Germany)
- Unimore Racing (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia – Italy)
- Kinetiz (Kinetiz Racing – (Singapore / UAE collaboration)
- TII Racing (Technology Innovation Institute – UAE)
- Polimove Autonomous Racing Team (Politecnico di Milano – Italy)
- Constructor University Racing Team (Constructor University – Germany)
List of Teams in Silver Race (in order of qualification)
- RAPSON (HUMDA Lab – Hungary)
- Code 19 (Privateer – USA)
- Fly Eagle (Beijing Institute of Technology & Khalifa University – China & UAE)
- FR4IAV (Academic & industry partnership – France)
- TGM (Servus Japan Inc. – Japan)
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