What's it like to participate in autonomous car races in Indy and CES?

Over the past several months, UC San Diego engineering, computer science, and data science students had the opportunity to participate in not one, but two, first-of-their-kind autonomous car races. Partnering with the University of Hawaii on the AI Racing Tech team, students participated in the first ever autonomous high speed car race at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home to the Indy 500. Then, the team traveled to Las Vegas to compete in the first head-to-head, high-speed autonomous car race held during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). 

What was it like to participate in these high profile events as a student? UC San Diego computer science master's student Siddharth Saha shares some quick thoughts: 

Siddharth Saha, right, stands in front of the
full-sized race car he and other students
turned into an autonomous vehicle.

1) What do you study at UC San Diego?

-For the majority of the competition I was doing my bachelor's in the Data Science program at UC San Diego, which I believe was very important for my role in the competitions. I am currently a master's student in Computer Science at UC San Diego.

2) How did you get involved in these autonomous car events?

-During the data science program I took part in the senior capstone project. The senior capstone had us choose a domain of interest. Professor Jack Silberman was willing to mentor students under that class and I was able to get my first exposure to autonomous vehicles from there. After that I joined student org Triton AI which was extending the work we did in the capstone, and ended up taking part in several of these autonomous car events

3) What was it like to get to participate in both races, at the famed Indy and Las Vegas tracks?

-Both were extremely thrilling. It's an experience not many college students receive, to stand in the pits of the famed tracks and warm up a full-sized race car

4) Favorite moment?

-Driving around in the Indiana Motor Speedway at 100mph+

5) Least favorite moment?

-We experienced a lot of hardware faults that were always frustrating

6) Advice for current/future students who want to participate in these type of events?

-Join Triton AI. Even now we are actively recruiting for these big events. We have several members new to robotics but who still contribute to these big competitions. Committing hours and a willingness to learn are the most important