Sign up for the Google Cloud Fly Cup Challenge

Are you ready to take your cloud skills to new heights? We’re excited to announce the Google Cloud Fly Cup Challenge, created in partnership with The Drone Racing League (DRL) and taking place at Next ‘22 to usher in the new era of tech-driven sports. Using DRL race data and Google Cloud analytics tools, developers of any skill level will be able to predict race outcomes and provide tips to DRL pilots to help enhance their season performance. Participants will compete for a chance to win an all-expenses-paid trip to the season finale of the DRL World Championship Race and be crowned the champion on stage.  

How it works: 

1. Register for Next 2022 and navigate to the Developer Zone challenges to unlock the game

2. Complete each stage of the challenge to advance and climb the leaderboard

3. Win prizes, boost skills and have fun!

There will be three stages of the competition, and each will increase in level of difficulty. The first stage kicks off on September 15th, where developers will prepare data and become more familiar with the tools for data-driven analysis and predictions with Google ML Tools. There are over 500 prizes up for grabs, and all participants will receive an exclusive custom digital badge, and an opportunity to be celebrated for their achievements alongside DRL Pilots. There will be one leaderboard that will cumulate scores throughout the competition and prizes will be awarded as each stage is released. 

Stage 1: 

DRL Recruit: Starting on September 15th, start your journey here to get an understanding of DRL data by loading and querying race statistics. You will build simple reports to find top participants and fastest race times. Once you pass this lab you will be officially crowned a DRL recruit and progress for a chance to build on your machine learning skills and work with two more challenge labs involving predictive ML models. 

Prize: The top 50 on the leaderboard will win custom co-branded DRL + Google Cloud merchandise.

Stage 2: 

DRL Pilot: Opening in conjunction with the first day of Next 2022 on October 11, in this next stage you will develop a model which can predict a winner in a head to head competition and a score for each participant, based on a pilots profile and flight history. Build a "pilot profile card" that analyzes the number of crashes and lap times and compares it to other pilots. Fill out their strengths and weaknesses and compare them to real life performances, and predict the winner of the DRL Race in the Cloud at Next 2022, and be crowned top developer for this stage.

Prize: The first 500 participants to complete stage 2 of the contest will receive codes to download DRL’s Simulator on Steam.

Stage 3: 

DRL Champion: Continue this journey throughout the DRL championship season. Using the model developed in Stage 2. Use data from past races to score participants and predict outcomes. Provide pilots with real life tips and tricks to help improve their performance. The developer at the top of the leaderboard at the end of December 2022 will win an expenses-paid VIP trip to DRL’s final race in early 2023. 

Prize: Finish in the top 3 for an opportunity to virtually present your tips and tricks to professional DRL Pilots before the end of the 2022-2023 race season

Top the leaderboard as the Grand Champion and win an expenses paid VIP experience to travel to a DRL Championship Race in early 2023 and be celebrated on stage. For more information on prizes and terms please visit the DRL and Google Cloud website.  

Ready to Fly? 

The Google Cloud Fly Cup Challenge opens today and will remain available on the Next ‘22 portal through December 31, 2022 when the winner will be announced. We are looking forward to seeing how you innovate and build together for the next era of tech-driven sports. Let’s fly!