Fédération Internationale de L’Automobile (FIA) has introduced an AI Safety Camera (AISC), designed to improve real-time audience safety with Rally Events.
The new system first unfolded at Rally Sierra Morena, the opening round of the 2025 FIA European Rally Championship. AISC shows a shift in how it gathers on the challenge of monitoring audiences along large, often remote stage routes, spanning dozens of kilometers. This is the result of a collaboration between FIA and Croatian startup Calirad, bringing the technology to drive AI to rally competing cars at the event.
AISC consists of GPU-enabled camera units connected to a processing device that can perform onboard image analysis. The camera is mounted on competing cars and utilizes AI-based human detection to monitor the stages of the audience, including those who move to dangerous positions as the gathering progresses.
When a competing car passes the stage, the system records the audience’s position and instantly evaluates the data. Alerts using images of potentially dangerous audience locations are sent to a web-based interface that can be accessed by event officials. This real-time data distribution allows for rapid safety interventions before subsequent competitors arrive.
The technology is designed to support a Chief Safety Officer who receives flagged scenes through the interface and can see the exact location of individuals within the risk zone. Officers can then use advanced management interfaces to address identified risks. This process aims to improve traditional manual-based monitoring methods, limited by the pure scale and remoteness of typical rally stages.
While such systems have historically focused on international championships with important resources and broadcast coverage, the FIA has generally identified AISC’s biggest future impacts at large regional and national rally events in organizer infrastructure.
“People safety is the basis of gatherings. As it is often done in stages in remote, unpredictable environments, ensuring that fans are in a safe place is both a challenge and a responsibility. The introduction of AI safety cameras can make a huge leap in how to monitor and manage risks during events.
“The technology is not about limiting fans, it’s about protecting them. Organizers and staff respond quickly and ultimately prevent accidents before they happen,” Costa has been added.
FIA Road Sports Director Emilia Abel said there is a very high level of refinement and system at the world championship level and there is a need to take advantage of that safety. Audience safety in particular continues to develop at the grassroots, national and local levels.
“Rally is probably the most spectacular form of motorsport, and there’s nothing better than being on a stage where a rally car is operating. We want to ensure that audiences can enjoy the sport safely. Also, AI safety cameras can make a big difference by providing organizers with new tools to provide real-time safety information about the event,” Abel said.
“Our message makes it clear that this system is here to protect audiences and the sport itself first, as we want the gathering to continue to grow and thrive as we move into an exciting new era in the coming years.”
The AISC system was developed with the intention of being low-cost and scalable, and is expected to have future availability for a wider range of rally events, including grassroots-level ones.
The FIA will prioritize the deployment of this system at regional and national championships following its assessment of performance at the 2025 FIA European Rally Championship.
