Indy Autonomous Challenge relaunches simulator races
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The Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC) has announced the relaunch of its Autonomous Challenge SIM races in partnership with the Japan-based Autoware Foundation (AWF). The IAC provides teams with vehicles and hardware and tasks them to develop self-driving race cars through the use of artificial intelligence.
The IAC organizes racing competitions among university-affiliated teams that program fully autonomous racecars. Teams are provided with the equipment and software to simulate racing on computers as well as put real cars on tracks such as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
In 2020 and 2021, the IAC organized autonomous SIM races that allowed 31 teams from 40 universities to test their AI drivers and determine their readiness to compete in on-track competitions.
“Autoware Foundation’s years of experience with open-source simulation and their global network of more than 18 universities makes them the perfect partner to enable a scalable platform for autonomous SIM racing,” said Paul Mitchell, President of IAC. “This partnership will allow us to extend the boundaries of the IAC as the number of university teams will not be limited to the physical vehicles.”
In collaboration with the IAC, startup Autonoma is integrating its vehicle dynamics, tire dynamics, sensor models, vehicle interfaces, simulation framework, and 3D racetrack environments into AWSIM, an open source simulator for self-driving vehicles. The IAC said Autonoma’s integration of real world information about the cars and tracks into the simulator allows the teams to test the performance of their autonomous software with high accuracy without being on the race track.
This program promotes the development of novel AI driving algorithms that can then be transferred to real cars. The teams are given chassis based off of the Dallara chassis used in the Indy NXT series, the developmental racing series sanctioned by IndyCar, with alterations to allow for autonomous driving. In January during IAC’s fourth oval competition, one IAC team set the world record for autonomous racing on an oval track reaching 180 mph at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“By offering a highly accurate simulation platform, we empower teams to push the envelope of their software, safely and efficiently,” said Will Bryan, CEO of Autonoma. “By enabling faster iteration speed, our technology not only promotes competition, it equips the teams with the tools necessary to create meaningful breakthroughs that will shape our autonomous future.”
The IAC SIM racing platform is currently available for IAC university teams and will be available to new university teams later this summer. Teams interested in participating in IAC SIM racing events can learn more by clicking here.