An engineering team at the University of Hawaii is competing in a racing competition for autonomous cars at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday for a prize pool of $1.5 million.
The UH AI Racing Tech team is one of 10 competing in the Indy Autonomous Challenge at the legendary venue after its driving software cleared three qualifying rounds of simulations in May. First place this weekend wins $1 million, second place $250,000 and third $50,000.
UH told Pacific Business News it has invested over $500,000 in its car — more than $1 million factoring in sponsorships. The prototype of the racecar, which resembles a Formula 1 vehicle without the cockpit, was built by Clemson University. The cars have sensors that act as the eyes and ears of the vehicle. Internal artificial intelligence makes tactical decisions in real time.
The 20-lap race is meant to be completed in 25 minutes or less, which requires an average speed of 120 mph. UH told PBN its vehicle can reach between 175 to 200 mph.
The race will be livestreamed on the IAC website as well as Twitch, starting at 7 a.m. Hawaii time.
UH's 10-person AI Racing Tech, or ART team is led by Gary Passon, a former professional road and oval racer who started tech companies in California before retiring to Maui. He started teaching at UH Maui College, and the team arose out of a spring 2020 course on autonomous vehicle technology, in partnership with the UH College of Engineering.
ART describes autonomous racing as "the ultimate engineering challenge" on its website. The team has gradually scaled up its cars from model-sized vehicles, to go-kart sized, to full sized.
“What all of us on the team are hoping to achieve is just really gaining the valuable experience from this because being one of the top 10 teams for this race, it’s a really big deal," said Lillian Shibata, a UH AI Racing Tech team member and a junior in the Manoa mechanical engineering program, in a video statement.
