The University of Hawaii made history by participating in the Indy Autonomous Challenge competition — the very first autonomous racing car event. The team, EUH AI Racing technology, reached his fastest speed and placed 6th in the competition.
TUM Autonomous Motorsport of Germany won the final shootout and $ 1 million. Nine teams representing 21 universities from nine countries qualified for the competition on October 23 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the Indianapolis 500.
“On race day we pushed our car, our code and ourselves to the limits, hitting 115 miles an hour, the fastest our car has ever driven and under 25 miles an hour. hour of winning speeds, “said Chris Battista, EUH AI Member of the Racing Tech team and former EUH Scientific researcher in Manoa. “It was a crazy race as we got together as a team last week and made the final changes and improvements needed for the race. While we’re all saddened by the car’s spin-out, it was caused by hardware issues beyond our control, and we have high hopes for the next run.
Battista added: “I am extremely proud of everything we have learned and what the team has accomplished, and I can’t wait to see AI Racing Tech is back on the track and faster than ever over the next year.
Generator AI to perform high speeds, tactical decisions
The Indy Autonomous Challenge is similar to other motor racing competitions, minus the need for someone behind the wheel. The driver is replaced by a variety of sensors that act as the vehicle’s eyes and ears, and a powerful computer to make the many route planning, tactical and strategic decisions necessary to deliver maximum vehicle performance. The system is an example of artificial intelligence, which forces engineers to create algorithms to program the car to generate human behaviors and interpret complex sensor data.
EUH AI Racing Tech was created thanks to a EUH Maui College course in spring 2020 on autonomous vehicle technology. Gary Passon, the course instructor, partnered with EUH by Manoa College of Engineering to provide additional expertise and give students a hands-on learning experience.
EUH Assistant Professors at Maui College Elisabeth dubuit and Mark Hoffmann, EUH Assistant Professor of Manoa Zhuoyuan song, Battista, spring 2021 mechanical Engineering former student Daryll suyat, junior in mechanical engineering Lillian shibata, and partners from the private sector, as well as experts and students from the University of California at Berkeley and the University of California at San Diego, all played major roles in the team.
The EUH AI The Racing Tech team is supported by several local companies and others in the industry, including the Maui Robotic Vehicle Association, St. Antoine school STEM program, VectorAero SARL, New Eagle SARL, ADLINK, Luxonis, PointOneNav, Emlid, RockWestComposites and others.
To learn more, visit EUH AI Racing Tech Twitter page.
This work is an example of EUH Mānoa’s objectives of Improve student success (PDF) and Research Excellence: Advancing the Business of Research and Creative Work (PDF), two of the four objectives identified in the 2015-25 Strategic Plan (PDF), updated in December 2020.
-Through Marc Arakaki
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