Team Kinetiz Won Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League
The autonomous racing team secured a decisive victory at Italy's historic Imola Circuit.
Updated on Sept. 19, 2026 in Motorsports
Live Poll
Do you trust self-driving technology to become safe enough for widespread public adoption soon?
Team Kinetiz claimed first place at the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League event held at the 4.9km Imola Circuit in Italy. The team crossed the finish line 10.963 seconds ahead of Constructor Racing.
Why it matters
The victory highlights the rapid advancement of driverless racing software as teams refine algorithms using data from previous competitive seasons. This win marks a major milestone for the team following their steady progression in earlier league appearances.
Competing vehicles reached top speeds of 300kmh during the race at the 4.9km Imola Circuit. The event featured five total teams pushing driverless software capabilities in real-time.
The players
Team Kinetiz
This collaborative racing team is composed of researchers and students from Nanyang Technological University, K2, and Alp Autonomy.
Constructor Racing
This competing organization finished in second place during the autonomous racing event held in Italy.
TUM
This university-affiliated racing team finished the event in fifth place following a technical issue.
PoliMOVE
This team was eliminated from the race after a high-speed collision on the circuit.
Unimore Racing
This team exited the competition after being involved in a collision with another autonomous vehicle.
The details
Teams operate identical driverless cars outfitted with a sensor suite of lidar, radar, and cameras to navigate the track. The winning software from Team Kinetiz successfully processed this sensor data to manage acceleration, braking, and steering at high speeds.
Timeline
2024: Team Kinetiz finished sixth in a pre-qualifying round.
2025: The team achieved a fourth-place finish in the grand final.
September 5, 2026: Team Kinetiz secured a first-place victory at the Imola Circuit.
Season Trajectory
This win marks a definitive performance leap for Team Kinetiz, effectively closing the gap that previously kept them off the podium in the 2025 grand final. The result establishes the team as a primary contender for future league dominance after years of incremental software iteration.
The victory grants Team Kinetiz a substantial lead in the season standings and establishes a new performance benchmark for software efficiency. Future competitors will need to match the team's 10.963-second margin to remain viable for the upcoming championship title.
The takeaway
Autonomous racing continues to push the boundaries of real-time sensor processing and high-speed decision-making. Future software updates for these vehicles will likely focus on collision avoidance and maintaining speed consistency during complex track maneuvers.
Further reading
Explore the latest developments in autonomous vehicle performance on our Motorsports page.
Source note: This article includes information reported by The Straits Times.
Live Poll
Do you trust self-driving technology to become safe enough for widespread public adoption soon?
