Virtual autonomous vehicles developed directly by university students race on a virtual circuit road.
Hyundai Motor Group announced on the 26th that it held the finals and championship of the '2023 Autonomous Driving Challenge' virtual division, an autonomous driving competition for university students, over two days on the 24th and 25th at the Alpensia Intercontinental Hotel in Gangwon Province.
The 'Autonomous Driving Challenge' is the largest autonomous driving competition in Korea, hosted by Hyundai Motor Group since 2010 with the purpose of expanding the base for autonomous driving technology development and nurturing talented individuals through the participation of domestic university students in technical research.
This year, a virtual division was newly established to compete in autonomous driving technology in a virtual space, and the competition is held in two divisions: the virtual division and the real-vehicle competition to be held at Yongin Speedway in the second half of the year. The virtual division provides free conditions and environments for students who find it difficult to participate with real vehicles. It was prepared to encourage more participation.
Hyundai Motor Group supported participating teams with autonomous driving simulation software capable of autonomous driving in a virtual environment, and helped students implement autonomous driving technology in the virtual environment, which may be somewhat unfamiliar, through education and technical seminars.
In particular, the virtual simulation environment was configured identically to the Yongin Speedway circuit. Various sensors necessary for autonomous driving, such as LiDAR and cameras, were applied with mechanisms that operate the same as in actual vehicles. Since the competition takes place in a virtual space, the completeness of autonomous driving software (SW) development becomes a key factor determining victory or defeat.
A total of 19 teams from 15 universities participated, and through the preliminary competition held from the 10th to the 12th, the top 9 teams including ▲KAIST ▲Konkuk University ▲Kookmin University ▲Sungkyunkwan University ▲Inha University ▲Chungbuk National University (3 teams) ▲Korea University of Technology and Education advanced to the finals.
The finals were conducted in a format where three participating teams formed one group, completed 7 laps, and the vehicle that crossed the finish line first advanced to the championship.
The competing vehicles must comply with speed limits for each section while overtaking or avoiding other participants' vehicles. Overtaking is only allowed in designated sections, and points are deducted if a collision with another vehicle occurs. Additionally, vehicles that deviate from the designated course or drive in the wrong direction are disqualified.
2023 Autonomous Driving Challenge Virtual Division Winning Team Commemorative Photo. Photo by Hyundai Motor Group
As a result of the finals, the winners of each group?▲Sungkyunkwan University ▲Konkuk University ▲Inha University?advanced to the championship, and after a fierce battle, the Sungkyunkwan University SAVE team (14 minutes 39 seconds) won the ultimate victory. Following them, Konkuk University AutoKU-V team (14 minutes 40 seconds) took second place, and Inha University AIM team (14 minutes 69 seconds) placed third.
Park Young-geun, team leader of the Sungkyunkwan University SAVE team, the final winner of the virtual competition, said, “There were many challenges while preparing for this competition, but thanks to the help of my advisor and lab colleagues, we were able to win. I am grateful to the Hyundai Motor Group officials who meticulously prepared the Autonomous Driving Challenge competition every two years for university students to continuously compete in research.”
The Sungkyunkwan University SAVE team, which won the competition, was awarded a prize of 20 million KRW and given an opportunity for an overseas inspection trip (Singapore). The second-place team received 10 million KRW, and the third-place team received 5 million KRW. In addition, the winning team will be granted special hiring benefits such as exemption from document screening in the future.
This competition was organized as a special session of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers Spring Conference, and about 1,700 attendees of the academic conference watched through a large monitor.
A Hyundai Motor Group official said, “This year’s Autonomous Driving Challenge has added a virtual division, which is meaningful in that more students can showcase their research capabilities in various environments,” and added, “We will continue to cooperate with excellent domestic universities and spare no support for the advancement of autonomous driving technology.”
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