A2RL's Kinetiz Wins First European Autonomous Race
The Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL) staged the first-ever multi-car autonomous racing event in Europe at the Imola Circuit in Italy on 5 September 2026, as part of ACI Racing Weekend. Kinetiz (UAE) claimed victory in the League's inaugural international race, completing 12 laps of one of motorsport's most technically demanding circuits.
ASPIRE, the grand challenges arm of Abu Dhabi's Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC), organises A2RL and brings together key players across Abu Dhabi's autonomous mobility ecosystem, with strategic oversight from the Smart and Autonomous Systems Council (SASC). A2RL has evolved from a public testbed for AI under extreme race conditions into a fully competitive racing series. Imola marked the League's first international chapter following two seasons at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, and represents a step towards its ambition to become the world's first international championship for fully autonomous race cars.
Five fully autonomous race cars contested the race. Kinetiz (UAE) took the win, followed by Constructor Racing (Germany) in second, PoliMOVE (Italy) in third, Unimore (Italy) in fourth, and 2024 and 2025 champions TUM (Germany) in fifth. Each team ran identical EAV-25 hardware, so the performance difference came down to software: perception, planning, control, and real-time decision-making.
TUM, the two-time consecutive A2RL Champion, saw its winning streak end after the car encountered a technical issue on the formation lap and had to return to the pit lane before the rolling race start.
Pole-sitter and race leader Unimore set the fastest lap at 1 minute 40 seconds before the car suffered a technical issue and came to a dramatic halt. PoliMOVE, which had hit the race's top speed of 252.3 km/h and raced within a second of the leader in a close battle from the outset, could not avoid colliding with the rear of the slowed Unimore car, ending the race abruptly for both teams. The incident handed the lead to Kinetiz, who held it until the chequered flag.
H.E. Faisal al Bannai, Secretary General of the Advanced Technology Research Council, said: "A2RL reflects how Abu Dhabi approaches advanced technology: setting an ambitious challenge, bringing the best minds together and creating the conditions for accelerated progress. Imola put that approach to the test, with five autonomous cars navigating the uncertainty and pressure of a live race. Seeing Kinetiz take the win marks an important moment for the UAE, while the wider value lies in what the race revealed about reliability, resilience and real-time decision-making. These insights will help advance autonomous systems far beyond racing."
Stephane Timpano, CEO of ASPIRE, said: "Congratulations to team Kinetiz from the UAE on a well-earned victory. Imola raised the level of the challenge, asking autonomous systems to race wheel-to-wheel in a completely different environment and generating valuable data to accelerate the next stage of R&D. What we saw here gives us a new measure of how these systems perform and adapt under pressure."
Imola's elevation changes, narrow racing lines, limited run-off and difficult overtaking zones tested how the autonomous systems managed grip, traffic, positioning and overtaking under sustained pressure. The race demanded that the AI continuously respond to other competitors, deciding when to attack, defend and adapt its planned trajectory as the race developed.
Omar Hanif Alqassim, Team Principal of Kinetiz, said: "It is a very proud moment for all of us at Kinetiz to win A2RL's first international race and, most importantly, to represent the UAE on an international stage. The team has worked extremely hard for this achievement, and seeing that effort result in a win makes it even more special. It was a great race and very well organised by ASPIRE, who have created a strong platform to showcase what the UAE is building in autonomous technology. We're proud to bring this victory home and to be part of representing the UAE's ambition and capabilities on the global stage."
Ahead of the race, teams prepared through a condensed physical testing period of just nine days across varying conditions, including rain and, at one point, hail. A newly fitted wet-weather kit allowed all five teams to run, and together they completed 38 laps.
To supplement physical testing and give teams the chance to enhance their code, A2RL's Sim Sprint returned this season, using high-fidelity digital twins including Yas Marina, the A2RL Autodrome, Suzuka and Imola to develop and validate their algorithms.
Alessandro Tucci, Executive Director, House of Grand Challenges at ASPIRE, said: "The performance Teams demonstrated during the race is the result of a defined development strategy built on more than 5,000 hours of simulation testing and racing in 2025. Racing in Imola was a fundamental step for A2RL's evolution, and we are proud of the results achieved by the Teams and A2RL organisation. Bringing that preparation to a circuit like Imola is how we keep raising the competitive standard of A2RL."
A2RL will return to Yas Marina Circuit for its next race. As the home of A2RL since its launch in 2024, Yas Marina Circuit remains the benchmark venue for the League's continued evolution.
The lessons from Imola will now feed back into the R&D programme in Abu Dhabi. Testing autonomous systems across circuits with materially different layouts and racing characteristics better measures their ability to adapt. At the same time, A2RL continues its role as a public testbed for autonomous technology and reinforces Abu Dhabi's position as a hub for applied AI and autonomous systems innovation.
SteerAI supports the 2026 series, alongside leading partners AD Ports and du Infra; official partners AWS, Abu Dhabi Mobility and Abu Dhabi Gaming; official supporters HP and Castore; and technical partners PACETEQ and Live in Five.