Human pilots take on the fastest autonomous drones in a new Saudi racing showdown
Riyadh, 2 September 2026. Tuwaiq Academy and the Drone Champions League (DCL) today announced Saudi DCL Season 2, the Kingdom’s national drone racing league, alongside a new AI vs HUMAN racing challenge that will put the fastest AI-powered drones up against elite human pilots. Season 2 launches in the first quarter of 2027. The announcement was made on the LEAP main stage in Riyadh.
The partnership between Tuwaiq Academy and DCL was signed in December 2025. In January 2026, it opened DRONES HUB in Riyadh, a physical arena for pilots and developers to train, build, test and compete. In May 2026, Saudi DCL Season 1 launched as a virtual drone racing competition in a digital twin of AlUla, taking pilots through Hegra, Elephant Rock and Maraya. The competition was introduced through Tuwaiq Club, a community connecting more than 60,000 students across over 20 universities. On 31 August 2026, the first Saudi DCL champion was crowned.
Season 2 builds on that foundation with a stronger format and wider opportunities for pilots and developers. Human-piloted racing remains the backbone of the league, giving pilots across the Kingdom a platform to compete and develop their skills, and the league expands its reach to create wider opportunities for participation across the region.
New in Season 2 is the AI vs HUMAN racing challenge. Teams of programmers build drones that fly without a pilot, guided only by their own software. These AI-powered drones first race against one another; the fastest of them then take on elite human pilots in a special showcase on the same course. The challenge brings the two forms of talent of the league together on one start line: pilots who master the controls and programmers who develop autonomous systems.
“Man against machine is one of the oldest stories the world tells. In Riyadh it stops being a story and becomes a race,” said Markus Stampfer, CEO and Co-Founder of Drone Champions AG. “We have been building the biggest global movement in autonomous drone racing in our AI Grand Prix, where thousands of teams already fly autonomously. Now the fastest AI-powered drones will line up against elite human pilots, on the same course and the same clock, in Saudi Arabia. At the center of the competition are two forms of talent: pilots who master the controls and programmers who develop autonomous systems.”
“Season 1 established the foundation and gave us valuable insight into Saudi participation in competitive drone racing,” said Abdulmalek AlGarayis, Vice President Drones at Tuwaiq Academy. “Season 2 will build on that experience with a stronger format and wider opportunities for pilots and developers. The AI vs HUMAN challenge gives Saudi and regional talent an opportunity to test their skills in one of the most exciting emerging fields in technology.”
Saudi DCL is the national drone racing league of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, founded by Tuwaiq Academy and the Drone Champions League. It was created in early 2026 and opened its first season in May 2026. Season 2 continues the league’s focus on human capabilities. Alongside the league, DCL and Tuwaiq Academy are introducing a new AI vs HUMAN drone racing challenge, in which AI-powered drones compete against one another before the fastest of them take on elite human pilots in a special showcase.
The Drone Champions League is the world’s leading drone racing platform. DCL runs the sport on three levels: real races in real places, virtual races in digital twins of them inside “DCL – The Game”, and autonomous races flown by artificial intelligence. The simulator is available on PlayStation, Xbox and Steam and has already united more than 300,000 registered pilots, who compete in the same digital racing environments the professionals fly. Over the past twelve months, from August 2025 to August 2026, DCL racing content was watched more than 363 million times worldwide, and 85 percent of that audience is under 35. DCL is a founding partner of the AI Grand Prix, where more than 3,200 registered teams flew over 254,000 autonomous flights in the inaugural season. DCL builds its own racing drones, trains its own pilots and owns the technology behind both. Partners across the world collaborate with DCL to reach Gen Z and Alpha and build a talent pipeline: pilots, engineers and developers who learn robotics, drone, FPV and AI technology by competing in it.
Tuwaiq Academy is Saudi Arabia’s national technology academy, developing national talent in advanced technologies through intensive, hands-on programs designed around real market needs. Founded in 2019 under the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones and aligned with Vision 2030, it has registered more than 1.4 million learners on the Kingdom’s central technology upskilling platform. The academy runs a global technology ecosystem with more than 60 strategic partners, including Apple, Microsoft, AWS, Google, Meta and IBM, bringing world-class expertise and certifications into Saudi Arabia, and counts more than 55,000 graduates, with an 82 percent employment rate among bootcamp graduates. Tuwaiq Academy is home to DRONES HUB Riyadh, opened in January 2026 in the presence of the Minister of Investment.
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