Tum Autonomous Motorsports Wins 2024 Indy Autonomous Challenge at CES

Tum Autonomous Motorsports won last week's third annual Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC) at the Las Vegas Speedway at CES 2024. 

The Technical University of Munich team bested the University of Virginia’s Cavalier Autonomous Racing in the race showcasing the future of automotive innovation. 

The event featured nine teams from 18 universities spanning seven countries and brought the world’s fastest self-driving racecars to the track. 

Tum’s racecar reached a maximum speed of more than 150 mph, despite unprecedented cold weather at the speedway the night of the event, which affected tires and brought windy conditions to the track. 

The race featured a never-before-seen moment in the semifinal matchup with the Tum and Kaist teams racing side by side, at times getting as close as 1.5 meters from each other, a first for high-speed autonomous racing, according to event organizers. 

“The Tum victory is a testament to the remarkable advancements in autonomous technologies and the dedication of the next generation of innovators and thinkers,” race organizers said. 

The race also saw three IAC racecars achieving world firsts with all three fully autonomous vehicles running on the track simultaneously. 

The three university teams of PoliMOVE-MSU, AI Tech Racing and TII Unimore took to the track with IAC’s new Next Gen Autonomous Vehicle Platform, the IAC AV-24, racing side by side as well as operating in complete darkness to show how autonomous vehicle technology can operate without visible light. 

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IAC unveiled its Next Gen Autonomous Racecar with new and enhanced features, including some world firsts at this year’s event. 

"This achievement, along with the performances of all participating teams, especially the world’s first night runs with three IAC AV-24 racecars, proves that autonomous driving is no longer a distant dream but a reality shaping our future,” said Paul Mitchell, IAC president. 

Six teams competed using the IAC AV-21 racecar:

Three teams demonstrated the IAC AV-24 racecar: