Digital Race final to be held on May 10

Eight groups of students from eight universities nationwide will gather for the final battle of the Digital Race, an annual technology contest organised by FPT, taking place this Wednesday at Cau Giay Stadium on May 10 in Ha Noi.

Accordingly, teams will have to use new technological knowledge such as image processing (lane and obstacle detection), artificial intelligence, machine learning and self-driving in order that vehicles can run on straight roads, taking curves, rolling uphill, changing orientation and speed when encountering obstacles.

Self-driving cars are one of the nine pillars of the fourth industrial revolution. A number of technology giants are already rushing to develop their own models. According to McKinsey, cars with smart connectivity and applications will grow at an average rate of 30 per cent over the coming years and will account for 25 per cent of the world’s total number of vehicles by 2020.

TechColor members- from VNU University of Engineering and Technology are practicing for the final

The board of organisation equips participating teams with car models, training material on image processing technology and open source libraries.

A member of one of the eight teams in the finals, Le Trung Kien from Hanoi University of Science and Technology said that earlier most of them are quite new to image processing. When participating in Digital Race, they have been given more knowledge about image processing, artificial intelligence etc. to develop on the models of unmanned vehicles. Their vehicles have basically recognized lanes, detected obstacles, rolled up hill and are ready for the final.

"Digital Race has created a buzz of excitement. The competition not only courages students but also fuels research works at the universities," stated Pham Thi Vuong, Vice Dean of Information Technology Faculty of VNUHCM-University of Information Technology.

Digital Race took place from November 2016 to May 2017. This year’s competition attracted more than 500 contestants from 26 universities across the country. Top 8 groups of students from eight universities nationwide were selected for the final battle of the Digital Race. The finals will be broadcast live on FPT Play television and the Vnexpress e-newspaper.

The total value of prizes is up to VND 700 million including one First worth VND 450 million (including a seven-day trip in America for members and three laptops), one Second worth VND 30 million, two Third each worth VND 20 million, eight prizes each worth VND 10 million for best teams of the qualifying round. The university with teams winning First prize will also receive VND 50 million in cash.

Digital Race is an annual technology contest organised by FPT. The Ministry of Science and Technology is the patron for the contest, which is sponsored this year by HP and Lenovo.