A Self-Driving Car from the Politecnico di Milano at the Mille Miglia

Milan, 14 April 2023 - For the first time, an autonomous car, a symbol of the future, will start the Mile Miglia 2023, an event that embodies the history of world motoring.

Named "1000-MAD" (Mille Miglia Autonomous Drive), the Politecnico di Milano's project is the world's first experimentation of autonomous vehicles on public roads, with a route of over 1500 km over a period of more than 12 months. 1000-MAD is an initiative that aims to expand the technical skills of Italian industry, to contribute to the development of sustainable mobility and to improve awareness among the general public about this technology. The Politecnico project is in partnership with 1000 Miglia srl, sponsored by MOST - Centro Nazionale per la Mobilità Sostenibile (National Centre for Sustainable Mobility), and engages numerous other sponsors and technical partners. Several research groups and departments at the Politecnico di Milano are involved, in order to address in an integrated manner the areas of technological development, project management (led by the Connected Car & Mobility Observatory), and also design and communication.

In recent years, the Politecnico di Milano has been working intensively on Artificial Intelligence and autonomous driving techniques applied to racing cars, and now, in anticipation of possible legislation to allow autonomous cars to travel on public roads, the “1000-MAD” project is a bid to be the world's first trial of autonomous vehicles in public settings, characterised by a very high variety of routes, repeated over several experimental rounds.

The Car. The vehicle that will be used for the experimentation is the brand new Maserati MC20 Cielo, an iconic and exciting super car that combines the best of modern technology with the charm of Maserati (whose history has been frequently interwoven with the history of the Mille Miglia).

The Politecnico di Milano has fitted the car, made available by Maserati, with all the technological elements of a 'robo-driver' (actuation systems, sensors, computers, communication systems, and all the software that implements the AI-driver algorithms), in order to put an Artificial Intelligence behind the wheel of the “Cielo”.

The use of a Maserati as the vehicle base for this project also testifies to the very close research collaboration that has existed for more than a decade between the Politecnico di Milano and Maserati engineering in the field of electronic vehicle control & automation systems.

The Mille Miglia 2023. From 13 to 17 June, the Maserati MC20 Cielo will make its way around the entire Mille Miglia route, tackling some stretches of the course in “autonomous” mode, for which the application for authorisation from the Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport is nearing finalisation (in particular, crossing through Bergamo and Brescia, Italian Capital of Culture 2023, Milan, Ferrara, Modena and Parma). On the sections that will be authorised by that date, the vehicle will drive in total autonomy, respecting the rules of the Highway Code, as foreseen by the historic race in stages, which is run along public roads amidst the normal traffic.

The Trial and the Mille Miglia 2024.Participation in the Mille Miglia 2023 is only the first step in the "presentation" of the project. Once the 2023 edition of the “World's Most Beautiful Race” is over, a year of intensive development and experimental refinement of the A.I-driver technology will begin, in which the car will be trained on a course similar to that of the Mille Miglia on municipal, provincial and state roads, and partly also motorway stretches, with the ultimate goal of travelling the entire route of the Mille Miglia 2024 in autonomous mode.

The Co-Driver. In order to meet the authorisation requirements for experimentation (Min. Decree 70 "smart roads"), the vehicle driven by the A.I-driver from the Politecnico di Milano must be constantly supervised by a human co-driver. For the Mille Miglia 2023, the co-driver will be the exceptional Matteo Marzotto, expert driver and member of the BoD of 1000 Miglia srl, who has taken part numerous times in the historic Mille Miglia. He will thus commemorate 70 years since his uncle Giannino's 1953 victory, in an extraordinary handover between past, present and future. This link between the human driver and artificial intelligence will be visually represented by an object of modern art, under development at the Politecnico's Department of Design, which will be unveiled at the opening of the Mille Miglia and which will accompany Matteo Marzotto throughout the race.

The Perception of the Italian people.The project also aims to introduce autonomous driving to the general public. According to data from the Politecnico di Milano's Connected Car and Mobility Observatory, Italian consumers are today perfectly divided, with 50% who would already be willing to use a self-driving car and 50% who are against the idea. The main reasons for those in favour are the convenience of "being able to do other things during the journey" (45%), and increased safety (31%); in contrast, those against are held back by the uneasiness of not being in control of the car (37%) and, ironically, the feeling of diminished safety (33%). Evidence is therefore needed to inform and prepare consumers for the revolution of autonomous mobility.

The Value for the Country. The "1000-MAD" project will strengthen Italy's scientific and technological capacity, creating a globally unique experimental environment in which to research and develop new technologies for autonomous mobility. It will also help define policy interventions to promote the development and use of autonomous cars; create a connection between the main research centres and territories active in Italy and abroad on the subject; and collect and publish technical data to develop industrial strategies and technologies. Lastly, the project aims to collect and publish data on the Italian territory, defining and calculating an Autonomous Vehicles Readiness Index, which can help all administrations focus their policies (and resources) on priority issues for that territory.