
Clocking a personal best
University of ݮƵ teammates top 150 mph with their autonomous race car in Las Vegas
University of ݮƵ teammates top 150 mph with their autonomous race car in Las Vegas
By Brian Caldwell Faculty of EngineeringStudents at the University of ݮƵ continue to push the limits of autonomous vehicles as members of a multi-school racing team.
Eight engineering, computer science and mathematics students from ݮƵ 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.
ݮƵ made its mark at the Indy Autonomous Challenge in Las Vegas.
“It's also been an amazing learning experience collaborating withstudents from other institutions to tackle such a challenging problem together,” said Brian Mao (BASc ’20, mechanical engineering), an applied math master’s 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, ݮƵ 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.
ݮƵ 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.
“It's been an amazingopportunityto advance autonomous vehicle technology in such a unique manner,” said Mao, who hopes to travel to Italy for the event. “My work on the team has already led to an academic publication, and the team is set to have additional publications in the future.”
The challenge was launched with the goal of advancing self-driving technology and speeding up its commercialization.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.
ݮƵ entered a small team calledbefore teaming up with the three U.S. schools to pool resources and expertise.
Main Photo: ݮƵ 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.
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The University of ݮƵ acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples. Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is co-ordinated within the Office of Indigenous Relations.