The organizers of the Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC) announced that the PoliMOVE team won the first ever autonomous driving competition at the Monza National Circuit, one of the oldest race tracks in the world. The event took place as part of the Milan Monza Motor Show (MIMO), which took place from June 16 to 18, 2023.

In January, IAC announced the expansion of its geography outside the United States and entered into a two-year partnership with MIMO to hold competitions on the famous track. The IAC teams were tasked with programming the AI to control identical Dallara AV-21 racing cars.

"Once again, the Indy Autonomous Challenge is pushing the boundaries of high-speed automation by running a historic time trial on the iconic Monza circuit," said Paul Mitchell, president of IAC. - It was a great honor for IAC to receive the approval of Automobile Club d'Italia (ACI Sport) and watch the fans support the winning PoliMOVE team. We can't wait to come back next year and have a few one-on-one races.

IAC brought six autonomous racing cars and five university teams to MIMO to participate in six sessions over three days, for a total of more than 2,000 km of tests, where the cars consistently developed more and more speed, gradually accelerating the lap time. The software for autonomous driving was programmed by students and researchers from the most advanced universities and research centers in the world, which included teams from:

KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology)
MIT-PITT-RW (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Pittsburgh, Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Waterloo)
PoliMOVE (Milan Polytechnic Institute, University of Alabama)
TII UNIMORE Racing (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia)
TUM Autonomous Motorsport (Technical University of Munich)
On Sunday afternoon, the teams of TII UNIMORE Racing, TUM Autonomous Motorsport and PoliMOVE entered the final round of the competition with a difference of only three seconds.

In the final, the PoliMOVE team completed its last lap in 2:05.87 on a 5.79 kilometer track with 11 turns, reaching a top speed of 273.4 km/h. The AI of the PoliMOVE team was driving a spare AV-21 car due to a breakdown of the main one during training at the beginning of the week.

The TUM Autonomous Motorsport team took second place with a lap time of 2:08.66 and a top speed of 269.9 km/h, and TII UNIMORE Racing finished third with a final lap time of 2:11.24 and a top speed of 250.8 km/h. More than 10,000 spectators watched the competitions from the stands. It is noteworthy that the victory was won by the team of the "hometown", representing the Milan Polytechnic.

Each of the five participating university teams received an official driver's license to participate in the competition, issued by ACI. Although the license is issued to the team leader, it represents the first of its kind license to participate in motorsport for AI. In order to get permission, the IAC and each university team had to submit historical data and demonstrate tests at the Monza track to confirm the capabilities and safe operation of an autonomous racing car.

It is reported that IAC will continue to cooperate with ACI and the National Circuit of Monza to develop rules and regulations governing autonomous racing competitions, with the aim of holding the next races during MIMO 2024.