Year 1 (2018) focused on the concept selection for the university teams by having them become familiar with their sensing and computation software. They were tasked with completion of a concept design written paper as well as simple missions for on-site evaluation, located in Yuma, AZ.
Year 2 (2019) focused on urban environment driving scenarios with static and dynamic objects. This will be located at Mcity, a one-of-a-kind urban test facility that simulates a broad range of complexities that vehicles encounter in urban and suburban driving environments.
Year 3 (2020) will focus on urban environment driving scenarios that have teams optimizing perception and sensing algorithms to navigate a fictitious rider sharing scenario through the Transportation Research Center’s SMART Center. This will include a longer continuous autonomous drive than the past two years in which teams will encounter both static and dynamic objects, traffic control lights and signs, as well as various lane line scenarios. Teams will be integrating HERE Mapping into their Year 3 Dynamic Challenges, focusing their Social Responsibility report on writing accessibility standards for a growing mobility industry, and refining their Concept Design to highlight innovative additions.
Year 4 (2021) is the last year of this inaugural series of the AutoDrive Challenge™ competition and will challenge the teams to show what the previous 3 years of development and learning has produced. The teams will face 2 Dynamic Challenges in this last year. One will be a culminating drive linking together all the elements and features experienced in the previous 3 years. The second will be SAE Standard (J3016) Level 4 proof of concept demonstration drive. Additionally, teams will be required to generate reports, presentations, and perform simulations to highlight their work and communicate what they have learned.