ORLANDO, Fla. – The Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC) racecar, a Dallara AV-21 programmed by team PoliMOVE from Politecnico di Milano (Italy) and the University of Alabama (USA), set a new land speed world record of 192.2 MPH / 309.3 KPH at the historic Kennedy Space Center.
Operating the Dallara AV-21, PoliMOVE set out to push the limits of a boosted engine package during test runs at Space Florida’s Launch & Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center. The upgraded engine package, capable of delivering 30% more horsepower than previous models, will be on all IAC racecars moving forward. Future competitions will be announced in the coming months.
“The Autonomous Challenge @ CES in January pushed our racecars to their limits and maxed out what was possible at the time,” said Paul Mitchell, president, Indy Autonomous Challenge. “Yet here we are just four months later, in another iconic venue, with an upgraded engine package setting yet another world record.”
Based in Indiana, the IAC is working to establish a hub for performance automation in the state and is harnessing the power of prize competitions to attract the best and the brightest minds from around the globe to further the state-of-the-art technology in the safety and performance of automated vehicles. The call to action for this competition has been remarkable, with 41 university teams initially signing up to compete more than two years ago, representing top engineering and technology programs from 14 U.S. states and 11 countries.
The primary goal of the IAC is to solve real-world problems by advancing technology that will speed the commercialization of fully autonomous vehicles and deployments of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). Pushing limits for the entire autonomous community and helping to increase safety and performance is of critical importance, not only in motorsports, but across all modes of commercial transportation.
