The First Professional Drone Race in Silicon Valley: Drone Racing League and Google Cloud Partner

Drone Racing League Partners with Google Cloud for 2022-23 Algorand World Championship Season

by DRONELIFE Staff Writer Ian M. Crosby

Today, the Drone Racing League (DRL) and Google Cloud announced the formation of a partnership that will oversee the launch of the 2022–23 DRL Algorand World Championship Season, bringing the first professional drone race to Silicon Valley.

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Presented by Google Cloud, the DRL Race in the Cloud will bring in the 2022-2023 racing season on October 11 at 7:30 p.m. PST at San Jose’s PayPal Park, with tickets currently available.

The race will coincide with the opening night of the Google Cloud Next annual conference. Conference attendees will be able to take part in the Google Cloud Fly Cup Challenge, a competition for developers to predict race outcomes and provide tips to DRL Pilots using DRL’s race data. Starting today, the competition will run throughout the fall, with developers competing for a chance at an expenses-paid trip to the season finale of the DRL 2022-23 World Championship, where they will be celebrated on stage.

“Google Cloud and the Drone Racing League are globally recognized for technology innovation, progressive thinking, and making the future happen today,” said DRL President Rachel Jacobson. “We are thrilled to partner with Google Cloud to engage their worldwide community of developers through our sport. Together, we will launch our 2022–23 DRL Algorand World Championship Season with a spectacular drone race as part of Google Cloud’s marquee event of the year.”

“The Drone Racing League represents a new frontier of real-world tech-driven sports and games that can only be achieved with the scale and performance of the cloud,” said Anil Jain, Google Cloud’s global managing director of media and entertainment industry solutions. “We look forward to collaborating with DRL through advanced AI/ML and data analytics capabilities that will allow the league to reimagine how they engage with and delight their millions of tech-savvy fans, who we are excited to welcome into the Google Cloud community of innovators.”

The 2022–23 DRL Algorand World Championship Season will begin airing on November 19, 2022 at 1:30 p.m. EST, with coverage on NBC as well as social media platforms including YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

The racing season will feature the world’s top 12 drone pilots racing high-speed drones in events both physical and virtual in the DRL SIM for a chance at the DRL Algorand World Championship. Race locations will include San Jose’s PayPal Park, an esports event in Texas, and Miami’s loanDepot Park.

Google Cloud joins a list of DRL partners that includes blockchain platform Algorand, T-Mobile, the U.S. Air Force, and leading drone systems and solution provider Draganfly.

Read more about Drone Racing League:

• Become a Drone Racing Pilot: DRL Sim Tryouts are Now Open!
• The Science of Drone Racing: DRL and Draganfly Create New STEM Program with Woz Ed and Robotify
• DRL Vegas Championship Held at CES Along the Las Vegas Strip
• What Happens to a Drone Racers Heartrate When They Navigate a Hairpin Turn? DRL and Draganfly Partner
• Drone Racing League Champion Headsup: The Interview

Ian attended Dominican University of California, where he received a BA in English in 2019. With a lifelong passion for writing and storytelling and a keen interest in technology, he is now contributing to DroneLife as a staff writer.