AWS DeepRacer League: The June race gets underway, as the first Virtual Circuit champion is crowned!

The AWS DeepRacer League is the world’s first global autonomous racing league, open to anyone. Developers of all skill levels can get hands on with machine learning in a fun and exciting way, racing for prizes and glory at 21 events globally and online via the DeepRacer console. The Virtual Circuit launched at the end of April, allowing developers to compete from anywhere in the world via the console – no car or track required – for a chance to top the leaderboard and score points in one of the 6 monthly competitions.

The rubber hits the road for the June race!

On June 3^rd the Kumo Torakku challenge opened, and will be open for racing until June 30^th, at midnight PST. Inspired by the Suzuka circuit in Japan, this track will help developers of all skill levels put their models to the test and advance their knowledge and practice of machine learning. All you need to do is log into the console, where you will be taken through a few quick and easy steps to get your model up and running and ready to race. With the AWS Free Tier you are covered for up to 10 hours of training (in your first 30 days of usage), so you can enter the AWS DeepRacer League at no cost to you.

Once you have learned the basics you will be able to immerse yourself inside the AWS DeepRacer online simulator and watch your model train, until it is ready for submission to the leaderboard. Will it make it round the hairpin, to get views of Mt Fuji? Will you optimize for speed or direction to get the model through the curves? Can you tune your model to take pole position? Get racing today, and don’t forget, if you compete in multiple online races you will score more points, and increase your chances to be eligible for one of the overall Virtual Circuit prizes!

AWS DeepRacer League is open to all and you don’t need the AWS DeepRacer car or to visit an in-person race for a chance to compete, with the virtual circuit you can participate in the race from the comfort of the console. Start your engines, the June race is on!

Watch a successful full lap of the Kumo Torakku, from the AWS DeepRacer 3D online simulator

The Suzuka circuit and the new Kumo Torakku virtual race track

What’s new in the Kumo Torakku?

Aside from enjoying the scenery, you will now have the ability to train your model at a maximum speed of 8 meters per second. But beware, the Kumo Torakku has tight corners and a car travelling at that speed may not be able to take the turns well. It may take time for your model to converge and training time could increase with more throttle, so you will have to experiment with speed in your reward function to help you to succeed. Get started today for your chance to win your expenses paid ticket and join the best of the best at re:Invent 2019.

Cheers to the London Loop winner!

And if that doesn’t inspire you, here’s a quick spotlight and celebration of the May race winner. After a month long race, the London Loop closed on Friday May 31st and the first champion of the virtual tournament was crowned. Karl, who works for the National Australia Bank (NAB) took home the top prize and will now be heading to re:Invent 2019 to join the race for the Championship Cup. At NAB, teams are encouraged to experiment with new concepts and technologies, and the team there have been on their machine learning journey with DeepRacer since it launched at re:Invent 2018. They have created their own DeepRacer community, hosted their own competition, and even saw a team member take third place at the AWS Summit in Sydney.

Karl was joined on the London Loop podium by his teammate Paul, who came third in the May race. Paul recently posted about their experience with the AWS DeepRacer League and you can check it out here. Also be on the lookout for part two where they will share more tips on how to compete to win. Karl, Paul and the rest of the NAB team made a combined 533 attempts to conquer the London Loop challenge. They worked hard on their models, tuning them over time and ultimately clinching the win, and they even said “the virtual league was much more fun than the real race!”

Congratulations to the team and here’s to more AWS DeepRacer success!

About the Author

Alexandra Bush is a Senior Product Marketing Manager for AWS AI. She is passionate about how technology impacts the world around us and enjoys being able to help make it accessible to all. Out of the office she loves to run, travel and stay active in the outdoors with family and friends.