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Edinburgh University Formula Student (EUFS) were crowned top student team in the UK for driverless vehicle software at the annual Formula Student competition for the sixth year running.
The prestigious summer event organised by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), held at Silverstone Racetrack, invites students from universities across the world to compete across different race car challenges.
The competition offers students an opportunity to apply engineering knowledge to real scenarios while gaining skills in project and finance management and business planning - and is seen by the motorsport industry as a testing ground for the engineering stars of the future.
The Edinburgh team were one of around 60 top international student teams to compete at the event between 19-23 July 2023, with competitors travelling from countries including Germany, Spain and India.
EUFS is the University of Edinburgh’s student society dedicated to automotive technologies. Based in the School of Engineering, and with a large and diverse membership of over 130 students from 11 different schools across the University, the group works throughout the year to design, assemble and test Formula One-style race cars, alongside a driverless vehicle and artificial intelligence (AI) software, to compete at the event.
Competition results
The team won four out of five categories in the Formula Student Artificial Intelligence (FS-AI) class, for software they had developed to instruct a driverless car to manoeuvre around a track.
During the competition, the team mounted sensors to a driverless vehicle provided by the IMechE, so that their software could guide the car to accelerate, brake, change direction, and sense its surroundings.
Judges were impressed with how well the Edinburgh team’s software performed on the track – and the team were crowned overall winners in the FS-AI competition with a huge margin.
“We are incredibly proud of our performance at Formula Student UK this year. We are now at the point where our autonomous driving software can push the competition car to its physical limits, something that no other student team in the competition has come close to achieving. What remains is to complete our own self-built autonomous electric vehicle, a car that we have made great strides in developing this year.
“It’s a testament to EUFS’s interdisciplinary makeup, which spans the schools of Engineering, Informatics, Physics, Mathematics, and many other schools from across the University of Edinburgh. We are now aiming in 2024 to be the first UK-based team in Formula Student UK history to enter a completely self-developed autonomous electrical vehicle in the FS-AI competition.”
~ Matthew Whyte, President - Edinburgh University Formula Student
“The School is delighted with our students' remarkable success at the Formula Student competition for the sixth year in a row. Their outstanding wins in four of the five FS-AI categories is a testament to their hard work, ingenuity and collaboration.
“Our student societies offer unique opportunities for applying knowledge and skills gained with us to real world scenarios and I’m delighted that the Formula Student team’s innovation in artificial intelligence in motorsport has been recognised at such a prestigious international event.”
~ Dr Amer Syed, Chair of the School of Engineering’s Student Innovation Advisory Group
The team are looking forward to build on their success this year and are designing a new generation driverless vehicle, for next year’s competition.
Results in full
The team won the following categories at the event:
- FS-AI Skidpad
- FS-AI Sprint
- FS-AI Trackdrive
- FS-AI Overall Dynamic Events
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