Momentum - The Magazine for Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering Vol. 4 No. 2 Summer 2019 | Page 19

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Formula races to
14th place
The Virginia Tech team raced its
way to 14th place during Formula
SAE Michigan May 8-11. Teams
were judged on cost, presentation,
design, acceleration, skid pad,
autocross, endurance, and efficien-
cy. VTMotorsports placed second
in efficiency with a score of 92.7;
only second place finisher Graz
Technical University had a higher
efficiency score. The top three
positions were won by teams from
Germany and France.
AutoDrive Challenge(s)
Malfunction has team learning on the fly
The second year competition for AutoDrive
Challenge asked competitors to achieve lev-
el-3 autonomy with a car capable of operating
on its own, driving a route, reading road signs
and responding to various highway signals.
"This year, we focused on implementing a
real-time operating system looking ahead to
level-4 autonomy in year three," said faculty
advisor Associate Professor Al Wicks. "We
arrived at the competition with high expec-
tations and a fully functional system, but a
major computer failure on day one dashed
many expectations."
Wicks credits a talented team with rigging
a laptop to the QNX real-time processor to
achieve some basic behaviors.
The team placed second in the Social
Responsibility competition with a focus on
autonomous technology outreach, and second
in the Simulation competition.
"On behalf of the entire team, we'd like to
thank our supporters, including TORC Ro-
botics, Blackberry QNX, Advance Auto Parts,
Odoo, Car Quest Brakes, Edmund Scientific,
Kvaser, Tass International, and the Virginia
Tech Transportation Institute.
"Our goal for next year is a clean sweep in
the final year of competition," Wicks said.