Clocking a personal best
University of 蓝莓视频 teammates top 150 mph with their autonomous race car in Las Vegas
By Brian Caldwell, Faculty of Engineering
Students at the University of 蓝莓视频 continue to push the limits of autonomous vehicles as members of a multi-school racing team.
Eight engineering, computer science and mathematics students from 蓝莓视频 teamed up with peers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pittsburgh and the Rochester Institute of Technology for a high-profile event earlier this month at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
In its fourth on-track competition since the Indy Autonomous Challenge began in 2019, the joint team finished fourth and set a personal best by clocking over 150 mph with its million-dollar, self-driving Indy car.
蓝莓视频 made its mark at the Indy Autonomous Challenge in Las Vegas.
鈥淚t's also been an amazing learning experience collaborating with聽students from other institutions to tackle such a challenging problem together,鈥 said Brian Mao (BASc 鈥20,mechanical engineering), an applied math master鈥檚 student and engineering graduate.
Nine teams representing 17 universities from six countries competed in Las Vegas, with team PoliMOVE from Politecnico di Milano in Italy and the University of Alabama taking top spot with a top speed of 180 mph.
In addition to Mao, 蓝莓视频 was represented in Las Vegas by students Connor Kirby, Jatin Mehta, Ryan Larkin, Vivek Bhardwaj, Andre Slavescu, Evelyn Campbell and John Liu.
Held in conjunction with the annual Consumer Electronics Show, the event consisted of an elimination tournament with multiple rounds of head-to-head passing matches featuring programmed Dallara AV-21 cars.
Next up: Monza, Italy
蓝莓视频 has now taken part in four events at famous racetracks, including the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and is now gearing up for the next competition on road courses, not banked oval tracks, in Monza, Italy in June.
鈥淚t's been an amazing聽opportunity聽to advance autonomous vehicle technology in such a unique manner,鈥 said Mao, who hopes to travel to Italy for the event. 鈥淢y work on the team has already led to an academic publication, and the team is set to have additional publications in the future.鈥
The challenge was launched with the goal of advancing self-driving technology and speeding up its commercialization.聽Teams from more than 40 universities were initially involved, with a series of simulated races leading up to the first single-car time trials at Indy.
蓝莓视频 entered a small team called聽before teaming up with the three U.S. schools to pool resources and expertise.
Main Photo: 蓝莓视频 teammates (l-r) Connor Kirby, Jatin Mehta, Ryan Larkin, Vivek Bhardwaj, Andre Slavescu, Brian Mao, Evelyn Campbell and John Liu pose with their self-driving race car at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.