- [Announcer] It's AWS Reinvent 2019 in Las Vegas
at the DeepRacer Championship Cup.
We have now locked in the fastest 16 DeepRacers
in the world.
Today's round of 16 is a double elimination bracket.
At the end of the day we reduce the pool
from our 16 finalists to three competitors
that will be live on the Reinvent stage
trying to be the 2019 DeepRacer champion.
Welcome to the world's first autonomous racing league.
Developers of every skill level
from all corners of the globe compete for the ultimate prize
in machine learning.
Welcome to DeepRacer TV.
We're back at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Today, 16 DeepRacers have endured a brutal gauntlet
of competition.
- [Announcer] Dang, that first DeepRacer
going into the wall.
- [Announcer] He's gonna come up just a tad short.
Can he make this one count?
He can not, not fast enough.
- The cream has risen to the top.
- [Announcer] Breaths a big sigh of relief.
- [Announcer] Found that last lap he was looking for.
A stellar performance, did that look like an impressive one?
- [Announcer] The final four undefeated racers
have been decided.
On the left hand side of the bracket,
it's Roger versus Sola.
Sola right now is going so aggressive and most of her laps
aren't even ending up on the track.
It is a 51% to 49% odds of Sola winning.
Roger and Sola, that match determines who moves on
to the Championship Three.
- [Sola] I know he's a student.
He learns machine learning so I'm a little bit nervous.
- [Announcer] Here we have Roger perhaps with
a convincing lap time here.
An acceleration unlike any other.
We have ourselves a convincing run right there, Ryan.
- [Announcer] 9.7, 9.7 for Roger which provisionally
has him ahead of Sola.
If that result were to hold he will be part
of the Championship Three tomorrow morning.
This has been a match for the ages.
- To defeat Sola, yes, everybody knows about her reputation.
- [Announcer] Ignition as Sola is off
with her second attempt.
- [Announcer] We've seen this strategy from Sola before.
She comes out of the gate and lays down the track
immediately, really aggressive out of the gate.
- [Announcer] Oh, that is looking extremely promising,
extremely promising indeed by Sola just finishing off
her beautiful run right there.
- [Announcer] With 8.975, Sola getting the job done.
Sola wins her match.
She has moved on and qualified with a time of 8.97.
- It was not good enough.
- [Announcer] Sola is our first person on the final stage.
Fumiaki will face off against Dbro
for a chance to join the Championship Three.
They both qualified with good times
and yet the analytics don't think it's even at all.
The analytics have Fumiaki at a 67% chance of winning.
Fumiaki has consistency and flow
whereas Darin gets a good win but it's always
at the very end of his races.
The analytics don't like that.
- [Dbro] I know definitely DNP are reliability
but now they've got a lot of speed,
so I might just have to put a wee bit of risk in.
- [Announcer] We begin to horseshoe once again here,
horseshoe on the outside part back into the S-express.
He's gonna try and find a bit more breathing room
and he has done it.
How about this, folks?
8.819 seconds for Fumiaki.
Here is the situation for Dbro.
Back up against the wall again.
As we've seen throughout his DeepRacer career
no surprise there.
- It's a career highlight for me
to win a ticket to come here.
To be the best in the world would be,
yeah, that would be everything.
- [Announcer] Look at this lap, Mark, look at that.
It counts, it was close.
And a 9.26 on deck here on the lap for Dbro.
- [Announcer] Well, he went for it all.
Ladies and gentlemen, comes up just a little bit short.
- [Dbro] 9.2 there which isn't bad but it's not enough
to get to the final with.
- [Announcer] A round of applause
for your semi-final champion, Fumiaki.
- It was surprising for me to go to the finals.
I was very happy about it.
- [Announcer] Looking at the last chance bracket.
If you lose you get dropped into the last chance bracket
but you're still competing.
Lose out of there and you're out for good.
- After I was beaten by the Japanese team
I had to crawl all the way from the bottom to the top.
I had to win two more races to get into the finals.
- [Announcer] Another lap in right here, 9.064,
and that means that Roger Chu has clenched a spot
in the Championship Three coming out
of the last chance bracket.
We are backstage at the keynote, AWS Reinvent 2019.
- This is the moment we've been waiting for
the entire season.
Our three competitors are ready.
They've loaded their models onto the car.
The crowd is filling up their seats.
The DJ is loud.
Everyone is excited.
There is nothing more to do but find out who
gets to hoist the 2019 Championship Cup.
(intense music)
Did you sleep last night?
- Just a little.
- Just a little bit?
- Yeah, yeah.
- I saw you walking around the casino
this morning at 5:00 a.m.
(Speaking in his native language)
- Very nervous.
- If I were to win this it would be a huge honor
because it is the biggest competition I've ever been to.
I think their models are a bit more robust than mine
so I'm just gonna pray for the best.
- [Announcer] Anything going through your head?
How are you preparing for you to get called out on stage?
- Nothing as usual.
- Maybe I'm gonna pray because I'm gonna need
all the good luck.
- [Announcer] Welcome to the big show
for the DeepRacer League 2019.
Starting first with our top qualifier,
the champion at the Tokyo Summit,
the world record holder in the previous generation track
and the fastest developer throughout the week so far
here in Las Vegas.
Her go for broke style has been thrilling to watch.
Please welcome to the stage all the way from Japan, Sola.
Our second competitor coming to the stage,
in contrast to Sola, Fumiaki's fast and consistent style
has been his calling card.
Please welcome to the stage Fumiaki.
And joining these two on the stage is our Taipei champion.
He had to survive the last chance bracket
to advance to the finals after a head to had loss
to Sola in the round of 16 yesterday.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Roger Chu.
- I will go third, third is the best because I know
how the other contestants are doing.
- And it would not be a race event
without a celebrity to wave the flag.
You know him well, folks.
Please welcome to the stage the one and only Matt Wood.
Well, there they are.
Your Championship Three, our celebrity flag waver as well.
Let's briefly run through the rules.
Unlike league play which has seen each developer
get four minutes of track time to set their fastest lap.
Today it all comes down to one 90-second attempt
per competitor, that is it.
The fastest lap set amongst these three will be
your 2019 League Champion.
Ladies and gentlemen, please get ready, Sola.
- I worry about a complete lap within 90 seconds.
- [Announcer] Here we go, three, two, one.
Sola, your 90 seconds has begun.
That lap will not count.
Now this is costly.
Sola told me before the race that in a four-minute format
she likes to spend the first two minutes
just getting a feel for the track.
With 90 seconds, she has to forgo that comfort level
and just hit for the pin.
Here we go, at just 90 seconds to work with
I think our developers are likely to be
a bit more conservative.
But how about that?
Not much conservative about a 10.236.
Just 20 seconds remaining for Sola.
Can she improve?
She can not, checker flag waves.
Gentlemen, the fastest developer in the world
record holder, Sola.
- 10.2, not so fast I think.
- [Announcer] With Sola only posting a 10.23 time
the door is wide open for Fumiaki.
- I was worried about the time.
The game being 90 seconds, that was a lot less
than what we've been doing which was four minutes.
- [Announcer] Here we go, three, two, one.
Fumiaki is on it's, into that left handed bend
at the start of the lap.
Now, we talked about his style as being a bit
more conservative, a bit more cautious,
but he's coming out of the gate with some aggression
looking very solid here on the track, 16.366.
- [Announcer] Fumiaki is starting out consistent
but he's starting out slow.
It's as if he's nervous about the track.
- [Announcer] This horseshoe bend
has been the bugaboo for Fumiaki so far.
Half way through the 90 seconds and 12.756 his best.
Just hugging that white line, dancing dangerously
but a little bit faster, 11.654 for Fumiaki
with 30 seconds remaining.
What do you think about this, folks?
Is it going to be better?
It is but it's not fast enough yet.
11.065, just 17 seconds but the car
exceeded track limits again.
Fumiaki's run is done.
He'll have to settle for an 11.065,
currently second of our three competitors.
- I thought this was my best place.
Second, it's meant to be.
- [Anouncer] So, it all comes down
to our last chance qualifier, Roger.
- [Roger] I did not expect too much racing against DNP
because they create the world record
so I just thought I would try my best.
I keep telling myself that so I don't get frustrated.
- [Announcer] The time to beat is 10.23 seconds
and he has beat that consistently.
He is a 9-second racer.
- [Announcer] Has the tablet in hand, he's ready to go.
- This should be his best shot at coming home with the cup.
- [Announcer] What do you think, folks, can he do it?
Three, two, one, and he's on it.
Roger on his way, let's cheer him on, folks.
He's still gunning for the best lap
we saw from Sola earlier, 10.2 and change.
That's the lap he's going to need to beat
if he's going to host the DeepRacer Cup.
Here through the flying Ss, now onto the front straightaway.
Off track though there.
He told us yesterday when he qualified,
"I need to be aggressive."
And that's what he's doing right now.
Here we go, his first official lap, 12.156.
That's something you can build on.
Only 35 seconds left, pressure packed here
with just 90 seconds to work with.
Can he get through this opening sequence cleanly this time?
It's not looking promising but there is still time.
20 seconds left.
Sola right now holds the fastest lap.
Can our double world record holder hold on?
Just twelve seconds to go.
What do you think, folks?
Seven seconds to go.
Tim hustling back to the start finish line.
One last flying lap for all the marbles for Roger.
It's not going to happen, time has expired.
A valiant effort from Roger, 12.156, his best lap time.
- We only got 90 seconds so it was just snap
and the time was gone.
- [Announcer] Let's welcome our trophy winners
up to the podium starting with third place,
Roger Chu from Taiwan.
- [Roger] I would describe this trip as a miracle.
I get to study more about this topic,
write some papers about it and publish
and hopefully I can graduate.
- [Announcer] Second place goes to Fumiaki.
Comes up just eight tenths of a second short.
- [Fumiaki] I look at the experience of DeepRacer
as an opportunity to understand how you acquire technology
and how you're going to improve it yourself.
I'm very grateful to learn that
through this DeepRacer experience.
- [Announcer] And how about it?
Your champion for the year 2019.
She's had the world record in the previous track.
She's got the world record here and now
the Champion's cup as well.
Ladies and gentlemen, a round of applause for Sola.
- [Sola] It's a very heavy cup
so I can't hold it by myself.
Too, too big.
- [Announcer] Congratulations to each and every one of you
and everyone else who has competed in what has been
a tremendous season of DeepRacer competition.
- [Sola] I've never won any other competition,
so it's a very great experience.
- But this is just the beginning because even bigger things
are planned for next year.
Enter DeepRacer Evo, the next generation of DeepRacer.
Dual cameras for stereo vision
and LIDAR for object avoidance gives DeepRacer
the ability to now race head to head on the same track.
It's the next evolution of the DeepRacer League
and AWS will be bringing it to more summits
around the world and giving you new ways to compete online.
AWS has a vision of literally putting
reinforcement learning in the hands of developers.
We've traveled all over the globe and seen developers
come from what is reinforcement learning
to actually being able to play on the track
in a matter of hours.
You used to have a PhD, you used to need to know
all about linear algebra and now you just need to have
the desire to come and have fun.
This is what it's all about.
AWS DeepRacer does not end at today's competition.
Coming back in 2020 with new capabilities,
new rules, returning champions and brand new faces
we haven't seen before.
So, if you've been inspired to learn more
about DeepRacer please go to aws.training
or just go to DeepRacerLeague.com
and you, too, can be part of the 2020 league.