A pair of University of Waterloo graduate students - one from engineering and the other from mathematics - have put a disappointing crash behind them as they prepare for the next historic step in autonomous racing this week.
Brian Mao and Ben Zhang are in Las Vegas as members of a multi-university team competing with a self-driving racecar against peers from around the world.
To be staged Friday at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, the event builds on the first-ever Indy Autonomous Challenge in October at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the winning car logged an average speed of almost 136 miles per hour (mph) to take the US $1-million top prize.
"It's been an amazing opportunity to advance autonomous vehicle technology once again,” said Mao, who has been in Las Vegas with Zhang for six weeks to prepare for the race.
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