Comparing times achieved by humans and robots can be misleading. One social media user joked that their car “could outrun a snail.”
However, in terms of robotics technology, this is a major step forward compared to last year, when a robot considered fast completed the race in 2 hours and 40 minutes.
According to The Associated Press, the winning robot this year was developed by the Chinese smartphone manufacturer Honor.
That said, the winning robot was not actually the fastest overall. Another robot from Honor finished in 48 minutes and 19 seconds, but it was remotely controlled.
The robot that recorded 50 minutes and 26 seconds was operating autonomously.
As reported by the Beijing-based technology organization E-Town, about 40% of the robots in the competition were autonomous, while 60% were controlled remotely.
Not all robots performed well, some fell immediately after the race began, others crashed into barriers, and several encountered various technical issues.
