IAC HACKATHON #2
“These hackathons are designed to help the teams train and prepare for the 2021 simulation race and final track race of the Indy Autonomous Challenge. The second IAC hackathon gave participating teams their first chance to compete with two difficult challenges. We saw a quantum leap in team capabilities and we had a lot of fun along the way.”
Sandeep Sovani, director of ADAS and autonomy at Ansys.
For ten days in September, 2020, collegiate teams entered in the Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC)participated in the second IAC Hackathon, created and run by IAC sponsor, Ansys, the global leader in simulation engineering. The hackathon is one of several leading up to the IAC at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) on October 23, 2021. The IAC is a $1.5 million prize competition among universities to program autonomous-modified Dallara IL-15 racecars and compete in the world’s first head-to-head autonomous race at speeds of up to 200 mph around the famed IMS racetrack.
Here are the IAC Hackathon #2 results:
THE CHALLENGES
● Fastest Lap: Simply put, the goal for the teams in this challenge was to take a trip around a simulated IMS racetrack as quickly as possible with the objective of logging the fastest lap time. But this challenge was anything but simple, as the teams had to hone in on an optimal racing line, trying to clip the apex of each corner while staying within the limits of the track. If a team failed to stay within the track limits, whether that was hitting the wall or crossing too far over the inside line of the track, their time would be eliminated from this challenge and the team would receive a “Did Not Finish” (DNF). Each team was awarded the track to themselves in this challenge, starting 100 meters behind the famed IMS yard of bricks with a rolling start of 150 km/hr. The Ansys stopwatch started and stopped when the simulated racecar crossed the yard of bricks, successfully completing one lap. Shaving off a fraction of a second on their lap times could serve to be the difference between taking home the trophy or leaving the race empty-handed.
● Late Breaking: This challenge took place on the back straight of the simulated IMS racetrack, and just to make things a little more complicated for the teams, Ansys added a few more racecars onto the track. Placing two simulated racecars both ahead and behind each team’s vehicle, competitors had to devise a strategy to overtake the two racecars ahead and speed down the straight, while trying to record the fastest time. This was no easy task, as the additional sim-racers ahead were adamantly trying to block the team racecar from overtaking them. Teams had to be savvy with how they would avoid the evasive maneuver, because if they got too close and collided with another racecar, they were hit with a DNF and disqualified from this race.
THE LEADERBOARD RESULTS
Congratulations to the PoliMOVE team of Politecnico di Milano (Italy) on their first place win; Crimson Autonomous Racing from the University of Alabama for taking second place; and in third place, Autonomous Tiger Racing from Auburn University. Well done teams!
