Autonomous Vehicle Competition Held at UMD

In the future autonomous vehicles could be taking over Northland roads - that's if some UMD engineering students have their way.

DULUTH, Minn.-In the future autonomous vehicles could be taking over Northland roads – that’s if some UMD engineering students have their way.

Earlier today 15 teams from an introductory engineering course at that school held a completion with mini autonomous vehicles. During the event, vehicles navigated a route without human intervention.

Students in the class said this type of learning has taught them much more about engineering then a text book could.

“This is so much better than just sitting down and studying for six hours, just like trying to sponge it up in our brains just to like regurgitate it on a test,” said Kevin Friede, a UMD student. “It’s more applicable. We all just learned a lot more than if we had written it down on a sheet of paper.”

During the competition, students built their cars using either two, three, or four wheels, saying some of them were built for speed while others were built for precision.