Indy Autonomous Challenge race car smashes hill climb speed record

This past week, the 2024 Goodwood Festival of Speed saw the latest self-driving AV-24 race car. The vehicle was from the Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC) university competition that set the fastest autonomous hill climb time record.

An artificial intelligence system made by PoliMOVE-MSU, a joint venture between Politecnico di Milano, Michigan State University, and the University of Alabama, drove the car according to a report by The Robot Report.

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The third and last run registered a record-breaking speed on Goodwood Hill at 111.2 mph (179 kph) in 66.37 seconds after three runs. Previously, the record was held by Roborace’s DevBot 2.0 driverless car at 101.16 mph (162.8 km/h) under 66.96 seconds in 2019. The car ran down a course that was about one mile long, starting off at a standstill.

Indy Autonomous Challenge Alumni at Goodwood

In preparation for this year’s Goodwood FOS, these challenge teams mapped out their route for simulation models as well as AI training throughout their year at Indy Autonomous Challenge.

Goodwood is known for its tight confines, bales-of-hay-lined track, and limited runoff area. The IAC and PoliMOVE-MSU worked with Bridgestone European Technical Center and European Proving Grounds located in Rome to optimize tire performance for autonomous hill climbs by AV-24 cars.

Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC) announced last year its participation in the Future Lab, presented by Randox, at the Goodwood event. On this occasion, the Technical University of Munich (TUM) deployed its vehicle to scan the hill at a slow speed and create a digital twin that will assist the participants this year.

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Accordingly, Paul Mitchell outlined that among the 2024 Indy Autonomous Challenge race schedule, other major events include the Goodwood Festival of Speed, which comes second. On September 6th, IAC will return “home” to Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where it all started back in 2021.

In January, during the CES, Las Vegas Motor Speedway saw the Dallara AV-24’sAV-24 debut at the 2024 Indy Autonomous Challenge. The racing weekend included nine teams from 18 colleges and was marked by races with either traditional AV-21 models or new AV-24s.

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In a race of AV-21 sports cars, TUM Autonomous Motorsport won over the Cavalier Autonomous Racing team from UVA. Both teams achieved speeds of up to 150 mph (241 km/h).

The two first rounds witnessed an intense battle between TUM and KAIST, who reached a semi-final stage that was only slightly off their nearest opponents by 1.5 meters (4.9 feet). Other competitors in the AV-21 category included Black & Gold from Purdue University, MIT-PITT-RW, which is a collaboration between MIT, Pitt, Rochester, and Waterloo, and Auburn University’s Autonomous Tiger Racing.

AI Racing Tech (representing UC Berkeley, Hawai’i, San Diego, and Carnegie Mellon), PoliMOVE-MSU, and TII UNIMORE Racing from Modena and Reggio Emilia demonstrated their AV-24s at this event.