Speeding ahead

How Mapix is helping the EUFS team build autonomous race cars

Last month Mapix attended Edinburgh University Formula Student’s (EUFS) annual showcase event. This was an opportunity for the students to share the year’s progress and unveil their new car.

EUFS is a society established in 2014 by undergraduate students of various disciplines at the University of Edinburgh. As Platinum sponsors, Mapix assists the team activities through mentoring, technical insight and financial support.

Over the last few years, the team has gone from strength to strength with over 300 students involved this year. The team’s president, Gregor Birrell, opened the event by discussing the substantial progress the team has made. He highlighted the skills the team members have gained, and the success of alumni who attribute their employment to the experience gained working on EUFS projects.

Remembering a teammate

Gregor also took time to reflect on the work of Lauri Anttila, an invaluable team member who sadly passed away from terminal liver cancer in August 2017. To keep Lauri’s memory alive, the team decided to raise money for the UK’s leading cancer charity for children, young people and their families, CLIC Sargent. Last year the team carried their first chassis up Ben Nevis to raised £1,800 for the charity.

Along with this fantastic achievement, it was also announced the team were naming their cars in Lauri’s memory. The cars will be called SISU, a Finnish word describing the extraordinary Finnish spirit to never quit and go beyond limitations.

Capitalising on success

Last year was a triumphant one for the team. Along with finishing the highest they ever had in the manual Formula Student competition, the team developed an autonomous car that placed first in the Formula Student – Artificial Intelligence (FS-AI) 2018 DDT Class. This recognition means the team currently has the best autonomous software package of any university in the country.

Looking ahead, the team hopes to capitalise on last year’s design and address issues. In their manual race car, the team has addressed steering and front suspension issues and now has a fully running race-spec car. They hope to exploit this with 14 test dates planned to maximise performance and reliability.

Electrifying AI

For their autonomous car, the team is taking on its most ambitious challenge yet. They hope to build an autonomous electric race car based on SISU II. This is a 2-year plan to be entered into 2020 competitions.

This year the team will compete in the software-only DDT class competition and aim to keep their title. There are also plans to enter their AI car into a design-only class to gain feedback on their progress.

The team closed the event by unveiling the SISU IV, the new manual race car that will compete in the team’s competitions, and showcased the AI project. As a Platinum Sponsor, we look forward to the year ahead. The new AI plans represent an opportunity for the EUFS team to collaborate further with Mapix and gain invaluable skills.

We look forward to the new challenges we will encounter with the team and hope the team retain their title at Formula Student – Artificial Intelligence (FS-AI) 2018. Congratulations EUFS!