A2RL
Race the real cars, as they race.
Live telemetry off the autonomous race fleet streams into a Unity game, so a player laps Yas Marina against the real cars while the race is running.
Brand · Abu Dhabi, UAE · Digital Experiences
- Client
- A2RL, Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League
- Product
- iOS and Android app, Unity racing game
- First iteration
- November 2023 to April 2024
- First event
- Inaugural autonomous race, 27 April 2024
- Engagement
- Five-year contract, a new event each year
- Live telemetry
- GPS, speed, RPM, gear, steering, engine and brake temperature, tyre pressure
The client
Branch built a two-part product. The app is the online platform for the league: the programme, the competing teams, parking and venue maps, and ticket management. Alongside it runs a racing game on the Yas Marina Circuit, with single player, multiplayer, and a Race Day mode in which live telemetry off the on-site servers puts the real cars on the track beside the player.
A2RL is the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League, an Aspire initiative putting driverless race cars on the Yas Marina Circuit. Its first race ran on 27 April 2024, and the app is the league’s digital hub for the years that follow.
The challenge
A race with no drivers has no cockpit to look into, which is a problem for an audience used to reading a sport through its people. The league needed one place to hold registration, ticketing, the programme and the teams, and it needed a reason for an audience to stay with it between one race a year and the next.
What we built
Mobile application
Published on the App Store and Google Play. Registration, ticket management, team details, FAQs and socials, programme and maps for parking and amenities, a user profile, and push and in-app notifications.
Telemetry data pipeline
Live GPS, speed, RPM, gear, steering position, engine and brake temperature and tyre pressure read off on-site servers and streamed to the cloud, which is what lets the app show a live race car status page and the game place real cars on a real lap.
Racing game
A Unity game on the Yas Marina Circuit. Single-player time trial and ghost mode, multiplayer matchmaking with a lobby and a leaderboard, and a Race Day mode that runs the player against the live teams.
Database and cloud infrastructure
The backend behind both halves, sized for a race-day spike rather than an average day.
Inside the build
Integrations
- Live on-car telemetry from the A2RL race fleet
More work
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