Members of a University of Waterloo student design team are in Arizona this week as they compete in the first leg of a three-year contest to develop a self-driving car.
WATonomous, which has more than 150 members, is up against teams from seven other North American universities in the AutoDrive Challenge staged by the Society of Automotive and Aerospace Engineers International and General Motors.
Student teams pose this week at the AutoDrive Challenge in Arizona. Members of WATonomous, the entry from the University of Waterloo, are in blue t-shirts on the far left. Photos: SAE International
Almost three-quarters of the team, which was selected as a finalist just over a year ago after calls for applications went out across the continent, is made up of Waterloo Engineering students.
The goal of the competition is for teams of undergraduate students to develop an autonomous car capable of navigating an urban course after progressively modifying it using sensing technologies, computing platforms, software design implementation and advanced computational methods.
Member of WATonomous work on their car at the AutoDrive Challenge in Arizona this week.
The focus of the Year 1 competition at GM’s Desert Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona includes the electrical designs of the cars and the execution of basic manoeuvres, such as detecting and avoiding objects, on a closed test track.
Students work on donated Chevrolet Bolt EV cars, with the Waterloo team divided into sub-teams to handle the software, mechanical, electrical and business aspects of the project.
Results of the Year I competition are scheduled to be announced at a weekend awards dinner.
WATonomous, which is advised by engineering professors Derek Rayside and William Melek, is competing against the University of Toronto, Kettering University, Michigan State University, Michigan Tech, North Carolina A&T University, Texas A&M University and Virginia Tech.