On August 22nd, the 19th National College Students’ Intelligent Vehicle Competition concluded its national finals at Harbin Engineering University. SCMU students excelled, securing one first prize and two second prizes.

According to the organizing committee, this year’s competition attracted 2,945 teams from 615 universities nationwide in the speed racing category alone. In mid-July, regional qualifiers were held across nine major districts. SCMU fielded seven teams in the South China regional qualifier, competing in various categories including model vehicle, visual navigation, lens-based navigation, iFLYTEK intelligent rescue, air-cushion vehicles, off-road vehicles, and electromagnetic navigation.

During preparation, team members collaborated closely, overcoming challenges to hone their fundamental skills. In competition, they demonstrated composure and determination, progressing through each round. Their persistent efforts paid off, with four SCMU teams advancing to the national finals based on their outstanding first-place performances in the South China region. In total, 486 teams from 236 universities across the nine regions qualified for the national finals.

The National College Students’ Intelligent Vehicle Competition, guided by the principle of “focus on cultivation, emphasize participation, encourage exploration, and pursue excellence”, is recognized by the Ministry of Education as a national teaching quality and reform project. The Chinese Association of Higher Education ranks it among the top 19 most prestigious college student discipline competitions across all fields.

The competition encompasses speed racing, creative design, and on-site challenges. The speed racing category, which includes various divisions with relatively straightforward metrics, caters to students across different academic years and is a key focus for SCMU. The creative design category, based on a comprehensive intelligent vehicle hardware platform, emphasizes the development and assessment of complex unmanned system software algorithms. This year marked SCMU’s debut in the iFLYTEK intelligent rescue division of the creative category (with finals held at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in Suzhou). The team performed exceptionally well, advancing through each round to secure a national second prize.

SCMU’s awards are as follows:

SCMU participants at the national finals. Photo by Wu Jia

SCMU participants at the South China regional competition. Photo by Wu Jia