CARNET Participates in the Smart City Expo World Congress 2021
- Its main project presented this year was the Autonomous Driving Challenge 2021, a competition developed with the support of VOLKSWAGEN GROUP INNOVATION and SEAT S.A.
- Among the other projects presented, we can find Ready2Scale III, part of the ScaleTHENGlobal Programme, and a round table to highlight the main solutions developed during our Citython.
The Autonomous Driving Challenge (ADC) competition was held on November 16, 17, and 18 during the Smart City Expo in Barcelona. Four teams from Spanish universities (UMA Garage from the University of Málaga, Gromep, from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, UNIZAR from the Polytechnic University of Zaragoza, and URBots, from the Rovira i Virgili University) competed for the podium in this third edition, ultimately won by the team from the Polytechnic University of Valencia. The edition was opened by Alexander Siebeneich, industrial director of CARNET and Andreu Solà, creative and strategic director at CARNET.
Autonomous cars (AV) will reach the market in the next few years and promise to be one of the most disruptive technologies of the 21st century. They are a solution to problems as varied as road safety, sustainability, traffic, and accessibility. CARNET wants to boost autonomous navigation technology by strengthening young national talent and also offering students the opportunity to establish first contact with potential employers.
The new mock-ups (the cars used in the competition) are equipped with ultrasonic sensors, 3D camera, reversing camera and a high-performance NVIDIA graphics card. Thanks to software developed by the student teams themselves, the cars are designed to drive themselves while respecting all regulations and avoiding obstacles. Even if the car is a 1:8 scale model of the CUPRA Formentor, the software development done by the teams is the most challenging in the field of AVs and can be perfectly extrapolated to a real size car.
The competition consisted of 4 challenges and a technical presentation of the solution. The jury was composed of robotics experts from UPC, SEAT, Volkswagen Group Innovation, and Capgemini. Vodafone collaborated for ultrafast 5G communication. In addition, we also collaborated with TV3 and Thau College to test new modes of image transmission and the reinforcement of engineering disciplines in young women.
On 16 November, the Ready2Scale III event took place. During this activity, the start-ups from the ScaleTHENGlobal programme pitched live in front of potential investors at the Innovation Zone of the Tomorrow Mobility Congress. The participants were welcomed by Dr. Laia Pagès, Executive and Scientific Manager at CARNET. Afterward, a keynote and introduction to the programme were given by Raül Feliu, EIT Urban Mobility Business Creation Manager, and Matteo Consonni, EIT Urban Mobility Business Creation Manager Innovation Hub South.
In addition to these two activities, at our stand in the congress, we were able to see presentations from some of the projects that we have been coordinating and developing from CARNET during 2021. This included keynote speeches and project presentations from our 3 directors: Lluís Jofre, Academic Director, Alexander Siebeneich Industrial Director, and Andreu Solà, Creative and Strategic Director.
We highlighted during this congress and through our participation once again the relevance of innovation and collaboration between private companies, universities, and the public administration in order to design the mobility of the future and develop better technologies to benefit citizens.
