Indy Autonomous Challenge Announces Cisco STEM Zone at Texas Motor Speedway
Infield Access, Team Interaction, Exhibitions, Workshops, Exclusive Programming, and Other STEM Engagements Offered to North Texas STEM Students on November 11
Fort Worth, TX (October 20, 2022) – The Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC) today announced the Cisco STEM Zone, an activation for North Texas STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) students that will take place at the Indy Autonomous Challenge Powered by Cisco at Texas Motor Speedway on November 11, 2022. As the IAC returns to racing, area STEM students are invited to the infield to take part in exhibitions, interactive programming, and other innovative activities catered to the North Texas school STEM and robotics community.
“The City of Fort Worth is excited to host this year’s Indy Autonomous Challenge Powered by Cisco at Texas Motor Speedway and values Cisco’s and IAC’s partnership in exposing area students to interactive, cutting-edge technology,” said Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker. “Cross-industry collaboration in STEM benefits Fort Worth residents, advances innovation, and helps business flourish.”
Students will get to experience first-hand the world’s fastest and most advanced robotic racecars, interact with some of the best and brightest robotics minds from around the globe, and learn about opportunities to advance their own futures in STEM.
“STEM students are our future data scientists, engineers, healthcare providers, teachers, and more," said Wes Sylvester, Vice President, Industry Solutions Group, Cisco. "At Cisco, we believe in student researchers and their ability to innovate for the future. By providing students with a playground to gain hands-on experience with advanced robotics and wireless technologies we hope to foster the talent pipeline foundational to our nation's most critical industries.”
“The IAC is the global pinnacle of STEM robotics competition,” said Paul Mitchell, President, Indy Autonomous Challenge. “Most of our university team members started off as high school STEM and Robotics Club members, and we are thrilled to showcase the adrenaline and excitement of what it means to be a STEM trailblazer to the next generation of innovators and leaders.”
Activating and engaging the STEM community in North Texas requires support from strong partners like Bell Helicopter, the City of Fort Worth, Cisco Networking Academy, DFW Airport, Epic iO, Presidio, Prism Systems, Wing, and others.
The Cisco STEM Zone is equipped to host 1,500 students. Participants will view interactive exhibitions in the infield of Texas Motor Speedway, interact with IAC university teams and then watch the Indy Autonomous Challenge Powered by Cisco live from the pits. For area schools looking to get their students involved and for more information on how to register please visit Cisco STEM Zone.
After a record-setting competition at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last October and making history at CES 2022 in January with the world’s first-ever, head-to-head autonomous racing competition, nine IAC teams will seek to compete at the Indy Autonomous Challenge Presented by Cisco at Texas Motor Speedway. Collaborating with partners like Cisco, the IAC is working to increase safety and performance in not only motorsports, but across all modes of commercial transportation.
IAC Teams arrived at Texas Motor Speedway on September 28 for an initial week of practice and will return for practice October 24 through November 11 where the Indy Autonomous Challenge Presented by Cisco at Texas Motor Speedway will be live broadcast via Twitch in partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS).
About IAC: The Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC) organizes racing competitions among university affiliated teams from around the world to program fully autonomous racecars and compete in a series of history-making events at iconic tracks. Based in Indiana, the IAC is working to establish a hub for performance automation in the state and is harnessing the power of innovative competitions to attract the best and the brightest minds from around the globe to further the state-of-the-art technology in safety and performance of automated vehicles. The IAC started as a $1 million prize competition with 41 university teams signing up to compete more than two years ago, representing top engineering and technology programs from 14 U.S. states and 11 countries.
About Cisco: Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in technology that powers the Internet. Cisco inspires new possibilities by reimagining your applications, securing your data, transforming your infrastructure, and empowering your teams for a global and inclusive future. Discover more on The Newsroom and follow us on Twitter at @Cisco.
Follow the IAC @IndyAChallenge and #IAC2022 on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram & YouTube.
MEDIA RESOURCES & Contact:
· Video of IAC land speed record, please credit “Indy Autonomous Challenge.”
· Additional photos, videos and b-roll can be found in the IAC Press Kit
· Allison Fried, (IAC@onemorevolley.com)
· Toni Davis, Global PR Lead, Cisco (Tondavis@cisco.com)