Edinburgh misses Formula Student AI race but wins two awards after brake fault

A self-built entry

The University of Edinburgh has taken its own self-driving car to Formula Student AI at Silverstone. The event turns the famous Formula One circuit into a testing ground for student engineers. In this competition the driver's seat is empty. Steering, manoeuvring and braking are all handled by computers.

Formula Student AI is run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Judges look not only at speed but at how well a car can think for itself. In the autonomous category, the main challenge is software. Teams take inputs from vision systems and other sensors on the vehicle, then write algorithms that interpret the data and decide how to apply throttle, brakes and steering to follow a prescribed course.

Edinburgh has an impressive record. It won the AI category in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Until this year, those wins came with the competition's shared driverless development vehicle, known as DDT. Traditionally, teams are given a car, add their sensors and run their software. This year Edinburgh brought its own car, aiming to prove the whole vehicle worked as one system.

The car has a seat and a headrest, but no driver. Two perception sensors, a lidar and a camera, detect the track and the environment. Data goes to the back of the car, where software brains process it and send commands to accelerate, steer or brake. At Silverstone, dynamic events tested acceleration, handling and autonomous control. Edinburgh first had to work through scrutineering. Before a driverless car can run without a driver, it must prove basics such as stopping. The team passed that test.

No other team at the competition presented its own autonomous car built from scratch. That made Edinburgh's entry a first, but it also brought extra scrutiny and reduced track time. The team said it passed the majority of scrutineering checks in record time, though the last one took longer. Getting to that point was a four- to five-year journey in itself. The team said it felt like it was in uncharted territory.

After days of checks, fixes and waiting, Edinburgh got the final sign-off. The car was allowed on track, but a last-minute technical setback left the team out of time. The brake pressure on the rear was not enough, and Edinburgh could not compete in the final hour. A judge said bringing a car that is both mechanically sound and capable of driving autonomously around a track is no mean feat. No other team had presented one car that did both. Edinburgh was the first.

The team's work was recognised with two awards, for autonomous design and simulation development. Team members said the event was tougher than expected and that getting the car on track was a huge achievement. One said it felt like they could breathe after not breathing for four days. Another said they had learned a lot and advised students to put in the hours and follow their passion. Edinburgh missed the race, but left Silverstone with its car signed off as safe and with two awards.