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Jake Hughes and Rene Rast will race at this weekend’s London E-Prixs in a new McLaren Formula E livery that the team claims to be a “world first” to incorporate generative artificial intelligence (AI) methods.
The livery has been devised in collaboration with the team’s title partner, NEOM, and members of its graduate development programme in Saudi Arabia.
McLaren said that each contributor – four graduates as well as Rast and Hughes – “provided their personal vision, which was combined in an end-to-end AI process to produce the livery”, which McLaren is running at the Formula E season finale as part of its 60th anniversary celebrations.
The first part of this was for those “visions” to be processed by a text AI, creating a series of prompts, before those were used to “create an individual artwork for each vision” using a text-to-image AI.
The six designs were combined into one final scheme using an image-to-image AI and enhanced to produce the “high-resolution graphics that McLaren Racing designers mapped onto the car”.
The graduates involved in the design process will join McLaren’s electric talent programme on a 12-month development scheme.
McLaren said this was part of an “ongoing initiative” it will run in the coming years for NEOM graduates.
Speaking about the initiative, McLaren CEO Zak Brown said: “We are delighted to work with NEOM on the creation of the first AI-designed livery in motorsport.
“When the car takes its place on the grid in London this weekend, it will mark a key moment in celebration of McLaren Racing’s 60th anniversary. McLaren has a long history of innovation in motorsport and beyond, so as we celebrate our past, it’s just as important to look to the future and continue to break new ground.”
NEOM CEO Nadhmi Al-Nasr emphasised the work done by the graduates, adding: “The NEOM McLaren Formula E Team partnership supports various NEOM commitments, from driving sustainable solutions and nurturing Saudi talent through development opportunities, to delivering new technology to the world.
“We have leveraged creative and innovative technology to create the AI-generated livery to celebrate a milestone in McLaren’s history through visions of the future.”
