TUM Autonomous Motorsport wins Indy Autonomous Challenge

TUM Autonomous Motorsport preps its autonomous vehicle. (Photo: Indy Autonomous Challenge)

TUM Autonomous Motorsport from the Technische Universität München (TUM) won on Saturday the Indy Autonomous Challenge Powered by Cisco, the first autonomous racecar competition at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

TUM competed in a field of nine teams from 21 universities to win the $1 million grand prize.

Rules of the IAC competition required each team to compete in a fastest-lap competition that included an obstacle avoidance component. The winning team recorded the fastest two-lap average speed of 135.944 mph on the famed oval track.

“Participating in the Indy Autonomous Challenge allowed our team to advance autonomous driving technologies, and being able to take first place after two years of hard work acknowledges that we had an outstanding team,” said Alex Wischnewski, team leader of TUM Autonomous Motorsport. “Our next goal is to win a high-speed autonomous head-to-head race.”

Organized by Energy Systems Network and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the primary goal of the IAC is to advance technology that can speed the commercialization of fully autonomous vehicles and deployments of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS).

These enhancements will lead to increased safety and performance in motorsports, as well as all modes of commercial transportation. The competition also serves as a platform for students to excel in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and inspire the next generation of innovators.

In addition to thousands of attendees at the IMS, and more than 20,000 viewers on the AWS livestream, the IAC hosted 350 high school STEM students representing more than 50 urban, rural and suburban school districts across Indiana.