Technology in driver's seat at Olympic Park

Australia’s first student-built autonomous race car can be seen in action over the next couple of days at the 4th ADVI International Driverless Vehicle Summit (IDVS4) in Sydney.

The Monash Motorsport M19-D was designed and built by the Monash Motorsport team as part of Formula SAE-A (FSAE-A).

It’s a hi-tech engineering competition where university students design, build and compete in Formula-style open-wheeled racing cars, that will culminate this December 5-8 at Winton Motor Raceway in Victoria.

Now in its 20th year, it is run by the Society of Automotive Engineers – Australasia (SAE-A), the Asia Pacific professional body for automotive and mobility engineers.

The M19-D showcases the latest innovations in driverless automotive technology, including complex environment perception algorithms and robust actuation hardware.

It will join autonomous vehicles of all shapes, sizes and types at IDVS4 to showcase the latest technology to the public on the forecourt of Olympic Park.

IDVS4 is staged by the Australia and New Zealand Driverless Vehicle Initiative (ADVI), which connects governments, industry and researchers to advance the economic, environmental and lifestyle benefits of driverless vehicles.

The Summit showcases Australasian and international best practice and it is the first time the event will be held in Sydney.

Summit themes will include road safety, certification and regulation, insurance, human-centric design, shared and on-demand transport, human machine interface and transformation of the urban environment and road networks.

Truck automation and the future of freight will be another significant focus, as will global trends in AV research, customer experiences, as well as security and safety.

Welsh rarebits

SAE-A chairman Adrian Feeney said the inclusion of Monash Motorsport’s driverless race car at IDVS4 was a great moment in the history of Formula SAE-A.

“It is fitting that an FSAE-A team of talented and committed university engineering students has created Australia’s first viable driverless race car,” he said.

“Not surprisingly, FSAE-A team members have forged impressive careers, many in top level motorsport and others with major car companies in the large engineering teams based here in Australia.”