T-Mobile US CTO and president of technology John Saw (pictured) predicted Formula 1 racing would be disrupted by digital twin technology which would design full replicas of the cars and racetracks.

Speaking on a panel at the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, Saw explained five years from now digital twins will help engineers work out the aerodynamics of their cars outside of wind tunnels.

Current wind tunnels cannot duplicate the conditions across all of the racing series’ 24 tracks.

“You could be out just by a whisker and you would lose like a full second, which is like disastrous,” he said. “The point I’m trying to make is that getting engineering aerodynamics right at 200 miles an hour is not easy.”

Saw noted the regulatory body of F1 periodically changes the design specifications teams must adhere to.

“It’s almost like a crapshoot despite millions of dollars spent on that,” he said. “And now there’s a new spec coming up in a few months. Imagine if you’re able to create an AI digital twin of the car.”

Good intentions
Combining digital twins of the cars and tracks with AI intent-based networking will allow the teams to run through millions of simulations of every possible condition.

Operators including T-Mobile are ushering in the age of intent-based networking where AI agents are in every element working together to meet the needs of every customer.

“If you translate that to F1 racing, it means that we may have AI agents that are in charge of every aspect of the car,” he said.

“And suddenly you’re going to have an AI-assisted design car and you can actually drive that at home too.”

In addition to aerodynamics, digital twins combined with AI will measure drag, performance and tyre wear.

Saw said more data would be collected during practice runs by some of the top drivers in the world.

“You put in weather conditions and temperature for the weekend,” he said “Suddenly you’re going to have AI recommendations for race strategy, tyre wear strategy and fuel management.”

“Suddenly the race engineer now has an AI core.”

Digital twins could also be used to train drivers in the future.

“Don’t tell Lando [Norris] I said that, but future F1 drivers could be trained on digital twins, not on go-cart racing tracks when they were 11,” Saw said.