Indy Autonomous Challenge

In order to qualify for the participation in the real championship, the participating teams had first to show their autonomous driving capabilities on a simulator, by completing a series of hackathon challenges of increasing difficulty, starting from a solo lap and simple obstacle avoidance[22] to 1-to-1 full races.[23] The simulation environment provided the teams with a perfect replica of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and of the Dallara AV-21 Racecar.

The simulation-only competition peaked with the IAC Simulation Race, which took place on June 30, 2021. It consisted of a qualification round, where the teams had to complete their fastest solo lap, with time penalties attributed for violating the track limits. Then, the teams were split into two 8-vehicle semifinal races in order to qualify for the final.[24]

In the semifinals and in the final, many vehicles were disqualified for causing collisions with other vehicles, with the race stopped and re-started every time a collision happened. The final times of the semi-finals were used to determine the running order of the final race, which concluded with the victory of team PoliMOVE,[4] which started from pole position and defended its place along the 10 laps.[24]

The winner team got awarded with 100,000 USD, while the second team (TUM Autonomous Motorsport) received 50,000 USD[4]

Indy Autonomous Challenge Simulation Race Final Standings Team University Qualification Semifinal Final PoliMOVE[25] Politecnico di Milano 1 1 1 TUM Autonomous Motorsport[26] Technical University of Munich 5 2 2 Reveille Racing Texas A&M University 13 4 3 MIT-PITT Autonomous[27] Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) , University of Pittsburgh 10 5 4 WUT Driverless Warsaw University of Technology 3 1 DNF Ariel Team[28] Ariel University 7 3 DNF AI Racing Tech[29] University of Hawaii , University of California, San Diego 6 2 DNF KAIST Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology 9 DNF DNQ Autonomous Tiger Racing Auburn University 2 DSQ DNQ Black & Gold Autonomous Racing[30] Purdue University , United States Military Academy (West Point) 4 DSQ DNQ Watorace University of Waterloo 8 DSQ DNQ Cavalier Autonomous Racing[31] University of Virginia 11 DSQ DNQ Crimson Autonomous Racing University of Alabama 12 DSQ DNQ Pegasus - RIT Autonomous Racing Colorado State University , Rochester Institute of Technology , Western Michigan University 14 DSQ DNQ Euroracing University of Modena and Reggio Emilia , University of Pisa , Polish Academy of Sciences , ETH Zurich 15 DSQ DNQ IUPUI - IITKGP-USB Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis , Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur , Universidad De San Buenaventura 16 DSQ DNQ DSQ = Disqualified, DNQ = Did Not Qualify, DNF = Did Not Finish

The teams at IMS with their racecars in October 2021

After the simulation race, 9 teams purchased the vehicle, and were admitted to the first physical race. Some of the teams participating in the simulation race merged in order to split the financial burden.[32]

The Indy Autonomous Challenge at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) took place on October 23, 2021. Although in the original intentions of the organizers it should have been a full 10-vehicle traditional race[33] as it had been the case of the IAC Simulation Race, eventually the scope of the competition was reduced to a time trial event with an obstacle avoidance test.[34]

The race, together with its 1,000,000 USD prize, was won by TUM Autonomous Motorsport[3] after many teams had to retire from the competition due to crashes,[35] with Euroracing on the second place of the podium, while PoliMOVE crashed against the wall but, as it had already scored its time, was granted the third place.

The next Indy Autonomous Challenge competition took place on January 07, 2022 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS), as the final event of the 2022 edition of the Consumer Electronics Show. The event itself was limited to CES attendees but was live streamed. After the single-vehicle time trials of the Indianapolis event, it was decided to have another competition with the autonomous race cars, this time with more than a vehicle on the track.[36]

To simplify the task for the teams, the "Overtaking Game" format was chosen for the race, where a defender car had to keep a constant speed, while an attacker vehicle had to complete the overtake before the end of the lap. Once the overtake had been completed, the roles would swap and the defender speed would be increased. The teams had to perform a complete and safe overtake on track in the test days before the event in order to qualify for the race matches, which were held on a tennis-style elimination tournament. To further simplify the environment, the defender was forced to stay on the inside of the turns.[37]

After winning the semi-final race against KAIST,[38] PoliMOVE won the 2022 IAC Las Vegas Race[39] by successfully completing an autonomous overtake over TUM Autonomous Motorsport[40] defending at 150 mph (240 km/h). The German team spun out of control after performing an overly aggressive obstacle avoidance manoeuvre while car #5 (PoliMOVE) was ultimating its overtake.[41]

IAC racecars in the garage of the Texas Motor Speedway

The success of the 2022 IAC competition in Las Vegas encouraged the series to expand towards new circuits. Consumer Technology Association renovated the IAC's contract to perform at the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. After a summer break and a vehicle refresh, which included an increase of the engine power[42] and new sensors and computing equipment, the cars were brought to Fort Worth, Texas for the next challenge.

The Indy Autonomous Challenge at the Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) took place in November 2023. A major change in the rules with respect to the 2022 Las Vegas edition consisted in the increased freedom of the defender vehicle to choose its trajectory, although right of way and minimum longitudinal and lateral separation rules were introduced to increase the safety of the competition.[43]

The race took place on a cold and wet racetrack after a morning of heavy rain.[44] Similar to what had happened during the Simulation Race, many teams were disqualified due to either causing a collision or simply violating the minimum distance between the cars, as their algorithms could not safely handle the increased opponent freedom.[45] Team PoliMOVE won the final race against AI Racing Tech.[46]

The 2023 Indy Autonomous Challenge at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway took place on January 7, 2023,[47] following the same ruleset of the 2022 TMS Race. As the teams' software progressed, more advanced vehicle interaction and less incidents happened with respect to the TMS race.[48]

Team PoliMOVE won again, reaching a top speed of around 180 mph (289.682 km/h) during the event[49] and beating its own speed record from the previous year.

At the 2023 Las Vegas event, the IAC announced its intention of coming to Europe, at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Italy, as part of the 2023 MIMO event.[50] Five IAC teams participated in the event,[51] which took place on June 16-18 2023.

Due to the increased difficulty of running on road course circuits with respect to ovals and the lack of complete GPS coverage of the track,[52] the event format was once again a single vehicle time trial competition. Team PoliMOVE scored the fastest lap, while TUM Autonomous Motorsport took second place and TII Unimore Racing (formerly Euroracing) was on the lowest step of the podium.[53]

Indy Autonomous Challenge Series Results Car # Team University IMS 2021 LVMS 2022 TMS 2022 LVMS 2023 Monza 2023 5 PoliMOVE[54] Politecnico di Milano , University of Alabama 3 1 1 1 1 3 TUM Autonomous Motorsport[55] Technical University of Munich 1 2 DSQ 2 2 6 TII Euroracing / Unimore Racing University of Modena and Reggio Emilia , University of Pisa , Polish Academy of Sciences , ETH Zurich 2 DNF 3 DNS 3 4 KAIST Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology 4 3 DSQ DSQ 4 8 MIT-PITT-RW[56][57] Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) , University of Pittsburgh , Rochester Institute of Technology , University of Waterloo DNF DNQ 4 4 5 7 AI Racing Tech[58] University of Hawaii , University of California, San Diego DNF DNQ 2 3 DNA 34 Autonomous Tiger Racing Auburn University DNF 5 DNQ DNQ DNA 9 Cavalier Autonomous Racing[59] University of Virginia DNF DNQ DNQ DNQ DNA 2 Black & Gold Autonomous Racing[60] Purdue University , United States Military Academy at West Point , Universidad De San Buenaventura DNS DNA DNA DNA DNA DSQ = Disqualified, DNA = Did Not Attend, DNF = Did Not Finish, DNQ = Did Not Qualify, DNS = Did Not Start