PoliMOVE Wins Indy Autonomous Challenge Powered by Cisco at Texas Motor Speedway Under Adverse Weather Conditions

Fort Worth, TX, November 16, 2022 – Team PoliMOVE won The Indy Autonomous Challenge Powered by Cisco at Texas Motor Speedway, competing in a field of six autonomous racing teams. The competition on November 11 marked the third autonomous racing competition organized by The Indy Autonomous Challenge and the first to be held at the iconic Texas Motor Speedway. Teams competed at speeds toping 140 mph despite unseasonably cold and wet weather conditions with track temperatures dropping to near freezing.

The Rules of the IAC Competition consisted of a single elimination tournament with multiple rounds of head-to-head passing matches culminating in a championship round. AV-21 racecars took turns playing the role of Leader (Defender) and Passer/Follower (Attacker), with passes attempted at ever increasing speeds until one or both cars were unable to successfully complete a pass. The PoliMOVE team ultimately bested AI Racing Tech (comprised of students and faculty from University of Hawai’i, with the University of California, San Diego, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of California, Berkeley) who took second place, in the final round.

“This race was particularly critical for testing under adverse weather conditions, and other track challenges we all encountered,” said Prof. Sergio Savaresi, team lead of Politecnico di Milano. “We had the scary, but thrilling, opportunity to see in action our AI driver perform very critical high-speed crash-avoidance maneuvers in both our semi-final and final rounds. The IAC platform pushed boundaries of autonomous driving during this challenge in a direction that can be particularly useful for the safety of future autonomous cars.”

The IAC is working to accelerate the pace of innovation for high-speed automation, with a goal to attract the best and brightest minds in the workforce, serving as a platform for students to excel in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) and inspire the next generation of innovators. Collaborating with partners like Cisco, the IAC aims to increase safety and performance in not only motorsports, but across all modes of commercial transportation.

“We came to the Texas Motor Speedway – one of the world’s most iconic racetracks – to showcase how the IAC is testing limits and redefining what’s possible for the future of autonomous technology,” said Paul Mitchell, president, Indy Autonomous Challenge. “What made this challenge particularly exciting was the fact that we got to do this in front of 1,800 local STEM students who had the opportunity to see teams test the limits of autonomous driving. The unexpected challenge of racing in near freezing temperatures, after a morning of heavy rain, proved the robustness of the AI driver software of our teams, and the durability of the hardware provided by our industry sponsors.”

Cisco enabled all critical in-vehicle and car-to-trackside connectivity for the competing Dallara AV-21 racecars using Cisco Ultra-Reliable Wireless Backhaul and Cisco industrial switching technology.

The Cisco STEM Zone, an activation for North Texas students, drew 1,800 participants from local robotics, AI and STEM clubs to engage in exhibitions, interactive programming, and other innovative activities catered to the next generation of innovators.

“I had the privilege of interacting with dozens of students in the Cisco STEM Zone and their enthusiasm was infectious. It was inspiring to hear how excited they are about what’s possible with connectivity and automation,” said Wes Sylvester, vice president, Industry Solutions Group, Cisco. “We get to inspire the next generation in STEM and give them the tools to innovate the future. I’m confident that with the power of Cisco technology and the enthusiasm from younger generations, we will continue delivering next-gen automation capabilities not only in transportation, but also in industries like manufacturing, mining, ports and more.”

Six teams qualified to compete in The Indy Autonomous Challenge Powered by Cisco at Texas Motor Speedway, including:


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 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.

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Follow the IAC @IndyAChallenge and #IAC2022 on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram &  YouTube.

MEDIA RESOURCES

·        B-Roll of the IAC Powered by Cisco at Texas Motors Speedway is available here.

·        Additional photos and videos can be found on the IAC Media Page

CONTACTS

·        Allison Fried, (IAC@onemorevolley.com)

·        Paige Thornton, Cisco (paithorn@cisco.com)