With its research project 1000 MAD - 1000 Miglia Autonomous Drive, the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, Politecnico di Milano is playing a leading role in one of the most ambitious self-driving experiments on public roads ever.

On the occasion of the 1000 Miglia 2024, the Politecnico's driverless car was authorised to drive over 1000 km on roads open to traffic, in a real and complex context, marking a significant step in the progress of smart and sustainable mobility.

The car used will be the brand new and iconic Maserati GranCabrio Folgore, featuring a fully electric power supply. The Politecnico di Milano research team, coordinated by Prof. Sergio Matteo Savaresi from the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, has installed the full 'robo-driver' system in the car, with a new hardware configuration and advanced, revamped software, the result of numerous road tests over the past 12 months.

The robo-driver will be backed up by a human ‘co-driver’ in order to comply with the authorisation requirements for experimentation (Ministerial Decree 70 ‘smart-roads’). Also in the 2024 1000 Miglia the co-driver will be an exceptional one: Matteo Marzotto, an experienced driver and member of the Board of Directors of 1000 Miglia srl, with many years of experience in the historic 1000 Miglia.

The 1000 MAD project gave rise to the larger AIDA - Artificial Intelligence Driving Autonomous project, which aims to develop self-driving car technology as an enabler for the transition to safer and more sustainable future mobility models in urban areas.

The project, created in cooperation with 1000 Miglia srl, is part of the MOST – National Centre for Sustainable Mobility, has the patronage of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, and is supported by the sponsors Movyon, Cisco and Redfield, as well as the contribution of numerous technical suppliers.