Anduril has created a new drone flying competition where performance is the prize

Palmer Luckey’s eyes light up, and he talks a mile away, when discussing his company’s newest recruiting event: the AI Grand Prix.

This is a drone flying competition with a twist. Instead of using human drones, drones should work independently. The candidates will be tested on their ability to write programs that make the drones outperform their competition.

There are prizes ranging from a $500,000 pot to be shared between the best teams, a job at Anduril, and the opportunity to go through the recruitment process.

“It was something I decided to do,” founder Anduril Luckey said in an interview with TechCrunch. Luckey and the group met to discuss the recruiting process, he recalled.

Someone came up with the idea of ​​sponsoring a drone race, which was in line with the company’s previous marketing strategy. For example, Anduril supports the NASCAR Cup Series competition known as 250 per sensor.

Luckey generally liked the idea but then said, “‘Guys, that would be a dumb thing for Anduril to support. The whole point, our whole motivation is the reason for being, is that the autonomy has gotten to the point where you don’t have to have a human piloting each drone,'” he recalled, adding, “‘What we need to do is how the pilots can make good pilots and help engineer it. It will fly itself.'”

After realizing that such an event did not exist, the company decided to create it on its own. Interestingly, Luckey also pointed out that the teams in the AI ​​Grand Prix will not be flying Anduril drones, but those built with a different security system: Neros Technologies. According to Luckey, Anduril’s drones are too large to be able to compete in the courses in Ohio where the finals will be held.

“We talked about teams using Anduril drones, but Anduril doesn’t make the fastest, smallest drones you’d want in the Drone Racing League. They’re big things,” he said.

Anduril is also partnering with one of the world’s top racing events, the Drone Champions League to run the event, as well as JobsOhio. The final race will be held in Ohio (where Anduril key generator exists).

Although Luckey is excited about how exciting the event will be, he won’t be a runner. “I’ll be there,” he says, but “it’s going to be about who can make the best program to fly these drones.”

He smiled and said: “I’m not a programmer.

(Luckey calls Anduril CEO Brian Schimpf the “de facto lead software brains” at the company.)

The founder hopes for at least 50 teams, and has interest from several universities, he said. If the competition is successful, the plan is to expand the competition with other types of autonomous vehicles.

“We are starting with these quadcopter racing drones, which is what people expect from drone racing. However, we want to be, in the future, using AI racing on other platforms,” ​​he said.

Running AI underwater, running AI on land, and possibly even running AI in flight were some of the ideas shared by Luckey.

The tournament is open to all international teams excluding Russia.

“The difference with Russia is that they are involved in taking over Europe,” he said.

The concern is that people eligible to participate in the competition may also be serving in the military in their country. “I’d love to be with anyone, but we’re not the Olympics,” he added.

Luckey said the event follows the lead of the World Cup, which also eliminated Russia.

Interestingly, groups from China (where there are many independent artists) are welcome, even if it is the same country US autonomous weapons hawks they often mention their greatest fear.

If the Chinese team wins, the award for work at Anduril, which produces weapons used by the US military, will not be awarded. “If you work for the Chinese military, you won’t be allowed to get a job in Anduril,” Luckey said. Other laws apply, he said. Instead, there will still be interviews and a fair process for all job seekers.

The competition will be held in three rounds starting in April with the final Grand Prix scheduled for November.