PITTSBURGH, June 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --
/ Key Highlights
- Seventeen university teams competed in the Ansys Indy
Autonomous Challenge Simulation Race featuring digital replicas of
the vehicles and track
- The simulated race, a critical milestone in the Indy Autonomous
Challenge (IAC), allowed teams to test the performance of their
racecar controllers in a safe environment
- Ansys awarded winner PoliMOVE and runner-up TUM Autonomous
Motorsport $100,000 and $50,000, respectively; $1.3 million in prizes remain at stake for the
IAC race currently scheduled for Oct. 23,
2021
Ansys (NASDAQ: ANSS), working in collaboration with IAC
organizers Energy Systems Network (ESN) and the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway (IMS), simulated autonomous races that
culminated in a seven-team final on a digital replica of the IMS.
Ansys awarded winner PoliMOVE from Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI), Milan, Lombardy, Italy $100,000 and runner-up
TUM Autonomous Motorsport from Technische Universität München
(TUM), Munich, Bavaria,
Germany $50,000 in cash prizes.
The Ansys IAC Simulation Race was a critical milestone
within the IAC — a competition among university teams to program
autonomous racecars for a head-to-head race. The IAC race is
currently scheduled to take place Oct. 23,
2021 at the IMS, where fully autonomous Dallara AV-21s must
safely and competitively race for the remaining $1.3 million in prizes. With a short timeline and
complex engineering challenges, simulation is a critical enabler
for teams to safely, rapidly and cost-effectively develop their
controllers in time for the October race.
Seventeen competing teams faced four phases: time trials,
validation runs, semi-final heats and the final race, composed of
10 laps with the seven remaining vehicles. The event was conducted
in the same virtual Ansys simulation environment where teams
developed the location, perception, prediction, planning and
control algorithms that collectively serve as the racecar
controller. This allowed teams to examine their controllers'
ability to navigate the track, avoid collisions and execute
strategic racing maneuvers.
"Competing in the IAC and working with leading-edge companies
like Ansys is a terrific opportunity," said professor Sergio
Savaresi, PoliMOVE team lead of Politecnico di Milano. "We're getting hands on experience
with the same tools major companies use for autonomous vehicle (AV)
development. It was an incredible feeling to take first place and
we gained insights about our controller that we will use to
optimize our software and hopefully get the same result in
October."
The IAC launched in 2019 with 40 universities around the world
forming more than 30 teams. A series of qualifying rounds narrowed
the field of teams that will compete in October.
"Simulation enables these teams to design the software they will
use to control the physical racecars," said Matt Peak, managing director at ESN. "It gives
them the freedom to be creative and agile in how they approach a
very complex problem. We partnered with Ansys because there is
simply no company in the world better at simulation — we couldn't
do this without the solutions, talent and passion they bring to the
IAC."
Many significant engineering challenges must be solved before
AVs reach public roadways. Like many major OEMs, ESN recognized the
importance of simulation in overcoming these hurdles, tapping Ansys
to be the exclusive simulation sponsor of the IAC. In this role,
Ansys provides teams with cutting-edge training and free access to
products in its Ansys Autonomy suite. Ansys also built
digital replicas of the racecar and IMS, and led three hackathons
to help teams advance their racecar controllers.
"Engaging with the academic community through challenges like
the IAC allow Ansys to empower the next generation of engineers to
accelerate AV commercialization," said Rick
Mahoney, senior vice president of worldwide sales, marketing
and customer excellence at Ansys. "The teams have not only taken
advantage of our solutions with technical ingenuity, but they have
done so despite challenging conditions created by the pandemic. We
cannot overstate how impressed we are by what these teams have
accomplished already."
Click here to view the full length race.
/ About Ansys
If you've ever seen a rocket launch, flown on an airplane,
driven a car, used a computer, touched a mobile device, crossed a
bridge or put on wearable technology, chances are you've used a
product where Ansys software played a critical role in its
creation. Ansys is the global leader in engineering simulation.
Through our strategy of Pervasive Engineering Simulation, we help
the world's most innovative companies deliver radically better
products to their customers. By offering the best and broadest
portfolio of engineering simulation software, we help them solve
the most complex design challenges and create products limited only
by imagination. Founded in 1970, Ansys is headquartered south of
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Visit www.ansys.com for more information.
Ansys and any and all ANSYS, Inc. brand, product, service and
feature names, logos and slogans are registered trademarks or
trademarks of ANSYS, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States or other countries. All
other brand, product, service and feature names or trademarks are
the property of their respective owners.
ANSS–T
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Contacts
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Media
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Mary Kate
Joyce
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724.820.4368
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marykate.joyce@ansys.com
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Investors
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Kelsey
DeBriyn
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724.820.3927
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kelsey.debriyn@ansys.com
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SOURCE Ansys