Williams F1 drives digital transformation in racing with AI, quantum

"The thing that really attracted me to Formula 1 is that it's always been about data and technology," says Graeme Hackland, Williams Group IT director and chief information officer of Williams Racing. Since joining the motorsport racing team in 2014, Hackland has been putting that theory into practice. He is pursuing what he refers to as a data-led digital transformation agenda that helps the organization's designers and engineers create a potential competitive advantage for the team's drivers on race day. Hackland explains to VentureBeat how Williams F1 is looking to exploit data to make further advances up the grid and how emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing, might help in that process. This interview has been edited for clarity.