The UTAC Challenge took place in Montlhéry, south of Paris, on Thursday, May 23. The aim was to run autonomous vehicles on a choice of routes: parking lots, urban routes or freeways. The ENSTA Bretagne team of 6 robotics students took part in the challenge as part of their second-year project. They won first place in the freeway event, as well as the prize for the best prototype.
Each year, the UTAC Challenge, dedicated to the future of autonomous and connected mobility, brings together teams from universities, engineering schools and university technology institutes across Europe. The Challenge gives students the opportunity to present their work (in English) and prototype to a panel of experts in the field.
During this event, the students presented the fruits of a year's worth of work:
First, we fully simulated the behavior of the vehicle, a Lotus 7, to compete in the freeway event.
With the active support of their professors, who completed the vehicle’s mechanical design (electric motor, steering, and brakes), the students then added the on-board electronics before moving on to programming the system.
The main goal was to get our car to move forward on its own and stop in front of an obstacle, which we managed to do.
In addition to the results obtained, this challenge was also an opportunity for the students to meet other teams and share different experiences and points of view. The focus of the day was on innovation.
All the judges gave us extremely positive feedback, both on our work and on the way we think and communicate.
The very positive feedback bodes well for an equally exciting edition in 2025:
We already know that the school will take part in the Challenge again next year, with the same vehicle, in order to further improve all our work.
