The TUM Autonomous Motorsport team from the Technical University of Munich (Technische Universität München [TUM]) has won the Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC), the first autonomous race car competition, held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in the USA.
TUM competed in a field of nine teams from 21 universities to win the US$1m grand prize. The rules of the IAC competition required each team to compete in a fastest lap competition that included an obstacle-avoidance component. The winning team recorded the fastest two-lap average speed of 135.944mph on the famed IMS Oval.
“Participating in the Indy Autonomous Challenge allowed our team to advance autonomous driving technologies and being able to take first place after two years of hard work acknowledges that we had an outstanding team,” said Alex Wischnewski, team leader of TUM Autonomous Motorsport. “Our next goal is to win a high-speed autonomous head-to-head race.”
Organized by Energy Systems Network and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the primary goal of the IAC is to advance technology that can speed the commercialization of fully autonomous vehicles and deployments of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS).
The competition also serves as a platform for students to excel in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and to inspire the next generation of innovators.