Detroit-based Square One Education Network is gearing up for its 12th annual Innovative Vehicle Design (IVD) Mobility Challenge, which will take place on Saturday, May 19 at the Mcity Test Facility in Ann Arbor, Square One announced today.
The challenge requires student teams from 39 schools across the state to face off in one of four competitions focused on vehicle performance and endurance. Competitions include autonomous missions to parallel park and avoid obstacles.
The challenge is one of Square One’s “Masters of Mobility” programs, which aim to inspire K-12 students to pursue careers in the industry. The students create vehicles using a fixed budget, a basic kit, a deadline, and a set of requirements. Each vehicle must include autonomous, connected, and electric technologies, which the students are evaluated on at the event.
This year’s competition includes a new vehicle-to-everything exhibition that will allow teams to compete in next-generation mobility technology. Other teams will compete in student-built, go-kart sized electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles built on Power Wheels Jeep platforms, and one-tenth scale radio-controlled re-engineered vehicles.
“We always are impressed with the imaginative ways students tackle the mobility challenges, demonstrating the skills they’ve learned in our STEM programming as well as teamwork and problem-solving,” says Dan DuBois, CEO of Square One Education Network.
“As we equip students to go into an increasingly more technology-based industry, our IVD Mobility Challenge provides an exciting, complex, and relevant opportunity for the students to create advanced mobility solutions. The event’s success each year is the result of their engineering talent, along with the dedication of their teachers and strength of our curriculum.”
Square One’s IVD performances are scheduled to run 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Mcity is located at 2901 Baxter Road, Ann Arbor. The public is welcome to attend.
