University of Hawaii to participate in driverless car race in Las Vegas

HONOLULU (KHON2) – The University of Hawaii will once again make history by competing in the world’s first-ever autonomous car racing competition to be held on Friday, January 7.

The Autonomous Challenge at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) will be held in Las Vegas, and UH AI Racing Tech is one of nine teams looking to clinch victory.

In the Autonomous Challenge, teams from eight countries representing 19 universities will compete in a knockout competition where the winner will take home over $ 200,000.

But what is autonomous car racing? Well, this is when the driver is replaced by a variety of sensors that act as the eyes and ears of the vehicle, which means the driver is driving the car from a distance.

The car is supported by a powerful computer that helps 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.

Gary Passon, UH AI Racing Tech team manager, said in this upcoming race that their team will be able to drive another car in real time, which they have yet to do.

“This is the first event and the first stand-alone event that I think all of us are aware of where they will go one-on-one,” he said, “so two cars will come out. at the same time and in order, they will try to cross.

Passon said they will have to overtake the other car several times during the race. He said their team will start competing individually for the standings and then it will be a single elimination to determine the winner.

“We were delighted to be able to finish the Indianapolis version of the IAC competition in 6th place. It was a very important result for us, but with which we believe we can do more. “

The race is scheduled to air live on the standalone challenge on the CES website and on the Twitch streaming app @IndyAChallenge at 10 a.m. PST on January 7.