Today at WCX 17: SAE World Congress Experience, SAE International and General Motors announced the eight North American universities that have been selected to compete in the pair’s next upcoming AutoDrive Challenge.
GM and SAE International’s new autonomous vehicle design competition will task students with developing and demonstrating a fully autonomous passenger vehicle in three years. The competition’s technical goal is to eventually navigate an urban driving course in an automated driving mode by Year 3, as described by SAE Standard (J3016) level 4 definition.
The universities selected include Kettering University, Michigan State University, Michigan Tech, North Carolina A&T University, Texas A&M University, University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, and Virginia Tech.
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“SAE International is excited to expand our partnership with GM to build the future STEM workforce through the AutoDrive Challenge,” said Chris Ciuca, director of Pre-Professional Programs at SAE International. “Building on our success through programs like Formula SAE, the AutoDrive Challenge launches a new platform to engage industry and academia in working towards a common goal of preparing the brightest young minds for the future of autonomous technologies.”
Students will focus on autonomous technologies, working with real-world applications of sensing technologies, computing platforms, software design implementation, and advanced computation methods such as computer vision, pattern recognition, machine learning, artificial intelligence, sensor fusion and autonomous vehicle controls.
“GM is very excited to work closely with these eight universities over the next three years,” said Ken Kelzer, GM vice president of Global Vehicle Components and Subsystems. “The students and faculty at these schools bring deep knowledge and technical skills to the competition. We are proud to help offer these students the hands-on experience necessary for them to make an immediate impact on the automotive world when they graduate.”
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Each team of students will get a Chevy Bolt from GM, which will serve as the vehicle platform. Students will be aided in their quest by strategic partners and suppliers, who will provide them with vehicle parts and software. Also, students and faculty will both be invited to attend technology-specific workshops throughout the AutoDrive Challenge.
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