July 28, 2021: NXP India, one of the largest design centers for NXP Semiconductors  recently organized the ‘Smart Car Race Design Challenge 2021’ in association with TOS (Time of Sport), an India-based University Engagement Group &  India Licensee for F1 Car Races in Schools.
The Smart Car Race Design Challenge is the first competition organized under NXP’s flagship platform ‘Artificial Intelligence In Mobility’ (AIM), launched exclusively for Indian university engineering students in January 2021.
The AIM platform is created to build a collaborative connectivity with Academia, promote R&D culture among students, develop problem-solving attitude, make innovators of tomorrow and create career opportunities for the young cohort and make them industry ready in the field of Next Gen Smart Embedded System Design, through real life future system design challenges.
Smart Car Race Design Challenge is the first tech competition on AIM platform focusing on the most up-to-date technologies such as AI/ML Algorithm, Sign-Recognition, Sensor, Motion Detection, Computer Vision, Image Processing etc. Students were invited to create a car prototype and race it on virtual tracks on Gazebo simulator avoiding dynamic obstacles like moving cars, walking human beings, signal for start-stop, etc.  Registrations for the challenge were invited in March 2021 and witnessed participation from 87 Universities from 24 states in India, 621 registrations for Design Challenge, 750+ webinar training attendees and 450+ active participation on Discord for project brainstorming.
After three long months of training, mentoring and various qualification rounds, 17 teams comprising of 57 students were shortlisted for the grand finale for the live race and a presentation in front of the external judges. Finalists were judged on the following major criteria-
-Completion of the race in shortest time with least penalties during the course,
-Technology (Sensor and Algorithm’s used and system integration),
-Innovation (AI/ML implementation, Coding and graphics)
-Car Model designs and
-Presentation (Communication skills, presentation skills, and teamwork),
The 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize winners stand to win cash prize of INR 50,000, INR 30,000 and INR 20,000 respectively and 6 Special Theme Winners will take home INR 10,000 each. Other benefits for the winners include an internship opportunity with NXP, meet & learn from the industry experts and technical and career mentorship throughout graduation.
The Winners of the Challenge are:
Winner:Team FAB4: National Institute of Technology, Calicut
1st Runner up: Team TESSERACT:National Institute of Technology, Calicut
2nd Runner up: Team DefianzRacing: Delhi Technological University, New Delhi
Special Theme Winners
Best Car Model Award: Team DefianzRacing:Delhi Technological University, New Delhi
Innovation Award: Team FAB4: National Institute of Technology, Calicut
AI Arjuna Award: Team Alphatrons: Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore
Best Coding Award: Team WTC: IIT (ISM), Dhanbad
Best Presentation Award: Team TESSERACT:National Institute of Technology, Calicut
Allrounder Performance Award: Team Warriors: BMS Institute of Technology & Management, Bangalore and National Institute of Technology, Karnataka, Surathkal