If it weren't for regulations, i am sure F1 would already be like this or close to it. Compared to public traffic, race tracks are quite easy to master for AI. They had active suspension systems and traction control in the early nineties where the driver was already reduced to mostly just pushing the pedal and steering but the FIA banned most of those driver aids because real human driving skill and error is just more exciting to the general public.
So who is going to be interested in motorsports when in 15+ years AI beats the best human drivers? Not only the races will be boring (cheering for an automaton Lewiz Hamiltobot?), but all humans would look like total losers.<p>The "easy" way for AI is to record all telemetry of a super fast human lap and then tweak it with machine learning for subsequent runs. No human is going to be 100% consistent all the time.
Awesome!<p>Perhaps this could end up in a place where the focus is on the cars and the technical performance, rather than human driver skill. For those of us who are more interested in engineering challenges than the celebrity driver of the day.