#FormulaUSI 2022

The overall goal of #FormulaUSI consists in driving a physical Donkey Car autonomously along the given tracks at the maximum possible speed using deep learning techniques.

To do so, participants should perform a number of steps. First, they need to collect driving data to use for training, such as manually driving the car around the track with a joystick. Second, the teams must analyze the collected driving data to assess its quality (e.g., remove erroneous driving episodes or perform data balancing between turns and straight roads). Third, the team must train a neural network that mimics the driving behavior of the training set. Finally, the trained models will be transferred to the scale car for testing on the track.

#FormulaUSI 2022 will test participants with two challenges: lane-keeping and head-to-head.

In the lane-keeping challenge participants will have to program their scale car to drive, autonomously, on a track at the highest possible speed (without exceeding track limits, see the rules). For this challenge, we will provide a reference model, but other options are possible.

The head-to-head challenge requires teams to compete against each other in a head-to-head knockout tournament. The autonomous driving cars should be able to race against another vehicle and complete a series of laps before their opponent.

• Participants must use the Donkey Car provided for the event. No other cars are allowed. No hardware modifications or alterations are allowed
• Competition is at software level. Participants must use the Donkey Car framework (Python, Keras, and TensorFlow) and the solution must be a deep neural network implemented using supervised or reinforcement learning. Teams can use any existing deep neural network model architecture or come up with their own architecture.
• During the racing day, cars must start with a single binary interaction. This could be a button on the car, on a controller, a key on a keyboard, or equivalent. No other intervention can happen until after the race heat is over; otherwise the car gets an invalid heat. An emergency stop button is recommended but not required. A deadman’s switch is also acceptable where a button is pushed and held for the duration of the race.
• For any dispute, members of the organizing team are the final decision-makers

• Two tracks will serve as training tracks for this challenge
• On each track, only one team can collect data for the autopilot
• A separate testing track will serve as the racing track for the competition (i.e., testing).
• The goal of the Lane-keeping challenge is to score the best valid lap times. Teams will be awarded for the absolute best valid lap time and the best average lap time among the 10 best laps times scored in the 2 available Race Sessions. To participate in the average lap time ranking, a team should score at least 10 valid laps across the 2 Race Sessions.
• A member of the organizing team will assess the validity of each lap. A lap is considered valid if:
  • The lap is traveled clockwise
  • The car runs without human intervention
  • The car does not exceed track limits, i.e., during the whole lap, at least one tire is always inside the white road marking lanes. Lanes are considered part of the road
• The two Race Sessions are organized as follows:
• Each team has 1 heats of 5 minutes each to try to score as many valid laps as possible
• In each heat, a team can select different models and configurations
• The starting order for the heats will be drawn randomly before the first Race Session
• Lap times are measured automatically when the car goes through the starting line
• Only valid laps contribute to the final ranking
• At any moment (e.g., in case of a crash), the team can reposition the car anywhere on the track. The current lap will not be considered valid. The next lap restarts when the car goes through the starting line
• If the car breaks, the team can try to fix it during their heat. No additional time is granted for repairing the car

• The same track will serve as a training and testing track
• The direction of travel is clockwise
• Two teams at a time must collect data (including overtaking episodes) for the autopilot
• The goal of the Head-to-Head challenge is to win a series of Head-to-Head races
• The tournament bracket that represents the series of Head-to-Head races played during the knockout tournament will be decided by the organizing team
• The Head-to-Head knockout tournament is organized as follows:
• Each Head-to-Head race is composed of 3 heats
• The team that wins two heats qualifies to the next Head-to-Head race. The other team is knocked out (i.e., best of three)
• In each heat, teams can select different models and configurations
• In case of crash, team members are allowed to manually put the car back on track in the same spot where the car went off the road
• If the car breaks, no additional time is granted for repairing the car

At #FormulaUSI 2022, each team performed two challenges: lane-keeping and head-to-head.

Lane-Keeping Challenge Results

In this challenge, we awarded the absolute best valid lap time and the best average lap time among the 10 best laps times scored in the 2 available Race Sessions. Here you can watch the recordings of the first race and here the recording of the second race.

Best Lap Time

Below you can find the final rankings across the two Race Sessions concerning the best valid lap times scored by all the teams.

Best Average Lap Time

We also ranked the teams according to the best average lap time among their 10 best laps. To participate in this ranking a team should complete at least 10 valid lap during the 2 available Race Sessions. Below you can find the final rankings of the 7 teams who qualified.

Head-to-Head Tournament Results

In this challenge, teams competed against each other in a head-to-head knockout tournament. The tournament bracket was assembled using the Best Lap Time rankings of the Lane-Keeping Challenge. The top 6 teams advanced to the quarters, while the last 4 teams had to compete to qualify for the last two positions in the tournament bracket.

Below you can find the Tournament Quarterfinal Bracket and the results (a ⭐️ denotes the winner of each match).

All participants will receive awesome gadgets of the event. The winner of #FormulaUSI is the team that dominates the head-to-head tournament! Also the second and third ranked teams received a cash prize.

In the Lane-Keeping Challenge we awarded two prizes for the best lap time and the best average lap time.

This edition of #FormulaUSI features two keynotes by experts in the field of artificial intelligence and driving.

Marco Coppini

Formula 3 Driver and Driving Simulator Expert

Watch the keynote!

Matteo Corno

PolimOve Autonomous Racing Team

Watch the keynote!