Drone Racing League

Drone Racing League
SportDrone racing
CategoryAir sports
AbbreviationDRL
Founded2015 (2015)
LocationUnited States
Official website
thedroneracingleague.com
DRL drones race through the Swatch gate during Level 5: Allianz Riviera in the 2018 DRL Allianz World Championship Season.

The Drone Racing League (DRL) is a professional drone racing league that operates internationally.[1][2] DRL pilots race in first person view with identical, custom-built drones at speeds above 80 mph through three-dimensional courses.[3] News publication Quartz described DRL as feeling "like from Star Wars" with "hopes [of becoming] the Formula One, NASCAR and MotoGP of drone racing."[4]

Founded in 2015 and launched publicly in January 2016, DRL is broadcast on Twitter, NBC, NBC Sports, Sky Sports, ProSiebenSat.1, FOX Sports Asia, Groupe AB, and OSN.[5] Former broadcast partners include ESPN and Disney XD.[6][7]

The league is currently in its fourth season, the 2019 DRL Allianz World Championship Season, which features seven races in locations including Allianz Riviera in Nice, France, BMW Welt in Munich, Germany, and The Adventuredome in Las Vegas, Nevada.[8]

DRL recently launched the Artificial Intelligence Robotic Racing (AIRR) Circuit, an autonomous drone racing series.[9] It will invite teams of university students and technologists to design an AI framework capable of flying a drone through DRL courses without human intervention and compete for a chance to win $1,000,000 in prizes.[9]

  1. ^ Fitzpatrick, Alex; Raab, Josh. "The Drone Racing League Is Building an Insane New Sport". Time.
  2. ^ Richardson, Aaron (24 October 2017). "2018 DRL Allianz World Championship to Take Place in Saudi Arabia". n3rdabl3. Archived from the original on 17 October 2018. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  3. ^ "This NYC Startup Raised $20M to Feature This Sport To the Masses". AlleyWatch.
  4. ^ Murphy, Mike. "There's now a drone racing league that feels like pod racing from Star Wars". Quartz.
  5. ^ "The Drone Racing League Moves Its Broadcast Rights From ESPN to NBC". Adweek. Retrieved 2019-08-14.
  6. ^ Margaritoff, Marco (24 October 2017). "Drone Racing League's World Championship 2018 to Take Place in Saudi Arabia". The Drive. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  7. ^ Terry, Joshua. "Drone Racing League Sets TV Pacts with MGM and ESPN". Variety.
  8. ^ Murison, Malek (2 May 2018). "DRL Announces 2018 Season Partners, Race Locations & Pilots". Drone Life. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  9. ^ a b Johnson, Khari (5 September 2018). "Drone Racing League launches $2 million autonomous drone competition". VentureBeat. Retrieved 22 September 2018.