Past Events

On May 20, 2022, at the Campus of Ideas in Munich, the young talent competition in the field of autonomous driving, the VDI Autonomous Driving Challenge (VDI ADC), finally entered the next round. Five teams from all over Germany thrilled the audience with their modified RC model cars during the all-day competition and showed what is possible in the field of autonomous driving in the miniature range. 

Every competition needs rules and regulations. For the ADC, the VDI Bezirksverein München Ober- und Niederbayern (VDI District Association Munich Upper and Lower Bavaria) has drawn up a comprehensive set of rules which, on 36 pages, not only defines the course and the various judging disciplines, but also sets out technical parameters for the model cars [1].

The key point is the use of a particular design of the Japanese Kyosho, which has been on the market for a long time and has a well service network in Europe. With this a whole host of technical parameters have already been defined, from the engine power and the sensors to the on-board computer and the operating software, taking into account the latest state of the art. The drive motor alone, with a maximum output of just under 150 W is already astonishing. The organizer wanted to prevent with this standardization that the competing teams don't run up to the cost-intensive material battle for better technical equipment such as engine power, tires, batteries, etc. A certain version of NVIDIA is prescribed as the on-board computer, for which there are already a lot of programs for image evaluation from the industrial sector. But the teams were allowed to deviate from the standard equipment, as long as the performance of the variant is not greater than that of the standard solution. Thus one finds also the use of the microcomputer from Arduino, which is very common and for which a large number of software solutions exists. As basic software ROS had to be used, a standardized control software, as it is also used in "real" autonomous driving cars. On this basis, the participants could create their own software modules. The design of these modules contributed significantly to the success of the project.

In a first evaluation, the "static discipline", the teams had to present their solutions and take part in the discussion. A total of five teams competed in six disciplines (see table). The individual disciplines were weighted differently. Faultless parking and driving on time were rated very highly, less important was the acceleration race and the pursuit race. The discipline "Overtaking" was not actually planned, but the participants during the competition choosed to try it anyway with some amazing results, which were astonishing and were met with great applause. 

All participants gave their best, but only one can win, and that was the team from Kempten University of Applied Sciences. The secret of their success lay not so much in individual perfect sequences, as rather in the experience of the participants
in control engineering and robotics as well as from the successful participation in the last ADC. In the pursuit race, however, the group had to accept the deduction of points, because the control loop that defines the distance to the vehicle in front was probably set a little too sharp. And so their Porsche pushed it a few times. Could this be the first step toward more fun with autonomous driving? Maybe for some drivers but the deduction of points in the real life is rather painful.