Think of it as Shark Tank goes MotoGP racing.
This year, at the Red Bull Grand Prix of The Americas, the MotoUP team will be hosting a contest designed to let teams of artificial intelligence-savvy technicians compete to create the best ideas to “better” the sport.
In “AI At The Edge,” the title for this year’s competition, four teams are creating presentations on their use of AI to improve and enhance the racing experience. And if “better” is a broad term, that’s intentional, says Mei Zhou, the CEO of WoW Consulting Agency out of San Antonio, Texas and a regular at the MotoGP race at Circuit of The Americas. Zhou is a board member for MotoUP, an organization that raises money for racing safety and for veterans and first responder groups. MotoUP has donated $22,000 to the Roadracing World Action Fund.
“Last year, one team shared on fan engagement improvement with a digital human – they take bots to a new level – on a website as an ambassador for fans who want to know more,” Zhou says. “Others talked about ways to improve back-end reporting to help teams operate their teams more efficiently. Others talked about ways to help the race team’s data analyst do their job more efficiently.”
The four teams have between five to 15 members, some of whom are on-site, some who will remote in for the event. Each will do a 30-minute presentation to judges, who will score them on use of AI, relevance to the sport, she says. “Is it interesting? does it excite fans? Does it excite an audience? it’s about the information but it’s also about the presentation – to deliver a clear message about the solution you have developed,” she says.
The idea is to get more people involved in thinking about the sport and to demonstrate the need for teamwork in utilizing technology to enhance the performance of a racing team and the fan experience, Zhou says.
Motorsport is close to Zhou’s heart. A ride on the back of a friend’s motorcycle in Pennsylvania as a teen started the passion – “I thought, this is the best thing ever,” she says. And throughout her decades-long career in the technology sector, she’s stoked those flames. A fan of her Suzuki SV650, she’s done car track days and traveled the world to spectate at motorcycle road racing events.
A two-up ride with Roadracing World Racing Editor Chris Ulrich gave her an opportunity to get a new perspective on riding and what racers experience, and she did not miss the opportunity. She doing a presentation at the track when her turn to do the two-up ride came up, and as she puts it, “I gave the presentation remote to my colleague, said, you finish the pitch! I have to go! It was amazing. I loved it. Even for me, as a rider, it was a brand-new experience. It took riding to a new level.”
Of all the events she has attended, Zhou says the North West 200 is the one that really resonated on an emotional level.
“It is so different. The people involved – their heart is in it. It’s a raw passion,” she says. “It’s not about the money, the marketing, the glamour. It is just a raw passion for speed. And they wear their passion on their sleeve.”
