At the front: the Széchenyi University team wins silver medal in the international competition for self-driving cars
Source: SZE News – Zsolt Pap
The SZEnergy Team, a team of students developing electric vehicles at Széchenyi István University, recently achieved the biggest triumph in its history when it won Europe’s most important energy efficiency competition, the Shell Eco-marathon, with a world record. The team has achieved yet another international success, this time taking the podium in the Shell Eco-marathon Autonomous Challenge, a new competition for teams developing self-driving cars.
The Shell Eco-marathon Autonomous Challenge, an international event of complex tasks for engineering student teams, was held in Nogaro, France. The team of the Széchenyi István University, the SZEnergy Team, competed in four events in the urban small car category, during which they presented the economic background of the development, drove the vehicle around the entire race track in self-driving mode, and then had to complete a precise parking operation and a slalom course.
“Before we went out on the track, they checked that our vehicle met the technical parameters required by the rules, and we had to demonstrate the autonomous system separately. Then we gave a presentation on our development, followed by the practical tasks”, said Péter Kőrös, researcher at the Vehicle Industry Research Centre at Széchenyi University, mentor of the silver medal-winning team from Győr.
“We consider the result a great success, because there were some events that we finished first and the silver medal in the overall standings is a nice shine. During the race, we also detected mistakes for which we know the solutions, so we can perform even better next time,” stressed the team’s mentor. He added that since this is a new competition category, the organisers are also relying on the feedback of the SZEnergy Team to shape the final form of the competition, which means that Széchenyi István University will also contribute to the high quality of the series with its professional comments.
In the Shell Eco-marathon Autonomous Challenge in France, the Danish team DTU (Technical University of Denmark) took first place, with SZEnergy (Széchenyi István University) from Győr taking second place. Third place went to DNV (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), followed by TU Fast Eco Team (Technical University of Munich) and H2politO (Technical University of Turin).
“Our students can also create outstanding work in electromobility and autonomous transport. After the Energy Efficiency Competition, the students have also made their mark in the self-driving category. Their world-class performance confirms that we are on the right track, with young professionals who are ready to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow. We are proud that our institution can contribute to the country’s competitiveness by providing internationally recognised technical education.”
– Dr. Bálint Filep, Head of the Széchenyi István University congratulated the team and the mentors.
Founded in 2005 by students and researchers at Széchenyi István University in Győr, the 30-strong SZEnergy Team, which develops electric vehicles optimised for energy efficiency, has been working on electric vehicle development for almost ten years. Their new vehicle was finished in 2019, and since then they have been continuously developing it for autonomous tasks, and are now also preparing for a competition that will test the vehicle’s self-driving capabilities in addition to energy efficiency.
This year, they achieved their biggest success ever, winning the Shell Eco-marathon, an international energy efficiency competition in the Netherlands in May with a world record energy mileage of 284 km/kWh. This success shows that students at Széchenyi István University have world-class knowledge not only in energy efficiency but also in the development of self-driving vehicles.