INDY AUTONOMOUS CHALLENGE TEAMS

Cavalier Autonomous Racing (CAR)

University of Virginia (UVA)

Email: mb2kg@virginia.edu

Website: https://autonomousracing.dev/

Located at the University of Virginia, the Cavalier Autonomous Racing team is a mix of faculty and students driven by the mission of building the fastest fully autonomous racing car. We believe that autonomous racing is the next grand challenge for safe self-driving vehicles. Motorsport racing has always been the proving grounds for new automotive technologies; and autonomous ‘battle of algorithms’ racing will play the same role for self-driving software and hardware. In motorsport racing there is a saying that “If everything seems under control, then you are not going fast enough” — we are building an autonomous racing AI with this as the objective function. The team is led by Prof. Madhur Behl who is the founder, co-organizer, and the race director for the widely popular F1/10 International Autonomous Racing Competitions (running since 2015). The challenge of solving high-speed, close-proximity, head-to-head autonomous racing will require collaboration in form of shared datasets, facilities, and capabilities. It is beyond the reach of any single individual or an organization. Therefore, we are very much open to collaboration which can complement and support our efforts.

Offering

Our team has a rich history in autonomous racing as majority of the team members have been involved in the F1/10 autonomous racing development for the past 5 years. One of our biggest strengths is in autonomous racing algorithms. We have strong expertise in robust perception, planning, and control at high speeds, overtaking algorithms, mapping, localization, head-to-head racing, and end-to-end autonomous driving. Another strength of our group is experience with high-fidelity racing simulation. We have developed and released several open-source autonomous racing simulators: e.g. ROS F1/10 Simulator (f1tenth.dev) and the DeepRacing AI (deepracing.ai) framework. Finally, the team is also very strong in rapid prototyping and racecar design on all scales. The team is also located in proximity of the Virginia International Raceway. In summary, we can offer expertise in Machine Learning & AI, Control Systems, Robotics, Embedded Systems, Autonomous Systems, and Cyber-Physical Systems.

Needs

A racecar is never a finished product — it is always a prototype. By supporting and collaborating with the Cavalier Autonomous Racing team, you will be supporting students who will master technologies that are going to shape the future of autonomous vehicles. The Cavalier Autonomous Racing team will facilitate a wide range of research, education, and training in autonomy. Approximately 30-50 students per year will be impacted by this program. We welcome support, collaborations, and sponsorship from the industry, foundations, universities, and other organizations in several forms — access to full scale self-driving car platform, hardware (new sensors) and software (simulation, deep learning etc.), testing and research facilities, and student support.

TEAM PHOTO

WHITEPAPER

Can’t view Whitepaper? Click here to download