R-CAS®

Racing Collision Avoidance System

TCAS-inspired onboard alert system, dedicated to racing, that reduces collision risk in blind corners and slow-car scenarios, without any vehicle actuation. Designed to integrate with FIA championships and safety processes.

Alert latency
≤ 150 ms

End to end from hazard detection to driver advisory.

Detection
≥ 99 %

Slow vehicle and stationary car detection on driver path.

False positives
< 2 %

Multi layer filters tuned per track segment and race phase.

Reaction time gain
≈ 400 ms

Average improvement in driver response time, about 33 m at 300 km/h.

R-CAS PDF Presentation

What R-CAS does

R-CAS focuses on one problem, reducing the risk of high speed impacts with unexpectedly slow or stationary cars and with marshals on or near the track, especially in blind corners and tunnels.

  • Onboard computation fusing GNSS, IMU and CAN bus data with low latency V2V telemetry, direct or via trackside relays.
  • Continuous projection of the fast car a few seconds ahead on a digital model of the circuit.
  • Detection of abnormally slow vehicles and stopped cars on the predicted path.
  • TCAS inspired advisory alert, visual and audible, very low cognitive load.
  • Alert only, no vehicle actuation at any stage, driver remains in full control.
Alert only Onboard system Compatible with F1, F2, F3 and other series

False positive and stability filters

To be deployable in racing, R-CAS includes several layers of protection against nuisance alerts.

  • Temporal and segment filters, the slow car must remain slow for several seconds, thresholds tuned per type of segment.
  • Race phase and geography filters, specific logic for green flag, VSC, Safety Car and restarts, no alerts in pit lane.
  • Data quality and redundancy, alerts only if GNSS, IMU, V2V and FIA telemetry are consistent and reach a high confidence level.
  • Stable behaviour, internal states prevent alert flickering, Race Control can arm or silence zones and trigger manual warnings.

Proposed FIA program

The next step for R-CAS is a controlled Proof of Value on Track, moving beyond lab work and simulation to measured performance with representative cars and circuits.

  • Definition and co signing of success criteria with FIA, including latency, detection rate, false positive rate and reaction time improvement.
  • Instrumentation of test cars and Race Control with synchronized time bases, telemetry and video.
  • Progressive deployment, from dedicated test days to limited race weekend trials, leading to a pilot deployment if targets are met.

Contact

For access to the full decision pack, technical annexes and detailed budget, or to arrange a dedicated session with the R-CAS team, please use the contact details below.

Olivier Djidjelli
RCAS - The Racing Collision Avoidance System
Email:
Phone: +33 6 64 68 48 82