SPEEDWAY, Ind. (WISH) — Self-driving racer cars will speed around the home of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” Friday afternoon.

The Indy Autonomous Challenge debuted in 2021 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Now, it returns for the first time since its inaugural running.

The nonprofit behind the challenge is based in Indianapolis — its main purpose is to foster innovation in the self-driving world.

Indy Autonomous Challenge CEO Paul Mitchell says with innovation on the racetrack comes more trust in self-driving cars.

“If they can work well at 180 miles per hour and avoid collisions, then they can probably work well on highways,” Mitchell said. “That’s what this is really all about. It’s about advancing technology so that we can eventually have self-driving vehicles operate safely on highways.”

The Indy Autonomous Challenge provides cars and the teams are in charge of the software behind them, The racecars closely resemble those used in the Indy NXT series.

Ten teams of students from 19 of the top engineering schools in the world will be competing to program the fastest self-driving car.

Before the race kicks off they’ll have an opening ceremony, complete with a drone flyover and other entertainment. Organizers say they want to give those in attendance the same feel as the Indy 500, just with an automated twist

But the annual challenge is about more than just racing.

About 1,500 central Indiana students will be in attendance to learn more about autonomous technologies and careers in STEM.

“These teams are made up almost exclusively of PhD students,” Mitchell said. “If you show these young people who are already maybe intrigued and interested in robotics, how if they stick with it, they can eventually be a stem superstar running a fully self-driving indie car. We think that we think that’s an important contribution.”

There will also be an entire summit surrounding Artificial Intelligence and Automation; an Innovation Paddock will take over the trackside garages.

Automation company Pix Moving is one of about a dozen exhibitors featured in the paddock.

David Walmroth, business development director for Pix Moving, says it’s exciting to be on the ground inspiring the next generation.

“That younger generation is critical to get in the game because they’re also not wed to existing or antiquated relationships with autonomy. They can see e-mobility and autonomous technologies from quadruped four-legged robots to something like…with wheels here. They have fresh minds to bring to the table.”

The race can be watched on Indy Autonomous Challenge’s YouTube page.