The Intelligent Vehicle Team of HDU is committed to building an innovative practical training platform, with technology as the core, competitions as the catalyst, and cultivating well-rounded talents as the mission. By participating in the National College Student Intelligent Vehicle Competition, the team hones students’ design capabilities and innovative thinking, ignites their passion for scientific research and exploration, and fosters a truth-seeking, pragmatic academic ethos alongside a collaborative culture rooted in teamwork.
From Bronze to Glory: The Legacy of HDU’s Intelligent Vehicle Team
“From the moment I entered HDU, I heard legends of seniors winning national championships in the Intelligent Vehicle Competition. When they recruited trainees, over 200 out of 500 freshmen in our school signed up!” recalled Lyu Zhihang, a team member. “Registered students receive learning tasks and hands-on projects, guided and evaluated by coaches and senior members. Only those who persist can advance through the level-by-level challenges.”Led by professors Yu Shan’en, Huang Jiye, and Chen Long, the team has established a three-stage training model—theoretical grounding, simulated practice, and real-world project execution—to cultivate talent. During the intensive summer bootcamp, members undergo immersive training, honing their skills in module deconstruction and system-level thinking. Students from the schools of Automation, Electronic Information, Mechanical Engineering, and Communication Engineering collaborate to tackle technical challenges: iterating hardware modules, optimizing AI algorithms, integrating multi-sensor systems, and refining multi-agent control. Knowledge transforms into solutions as they debug code, upgrade hardware, and enhance vehicle performance—boosting speed, recognition accuracy, and stability. They’ve witnessed dusk seeping through lab windows, kept vigil under sparse midnight lights, and greeted the first rays of dawn. These sleepless nights forged unbreakable camaraderie. For decades, the coaches’ unwavering dedication and generations of sweat-soaked perseverance have nurtured the team’s vitality and humanistic spirit. Yet, only 15 students earn a spot in HDU’s elite squad each year after grueling preliminary and campus-level selections. Mao Jiada, now admitted to Zhejiang University for graduate studies, still beams when recalling his summer training during sophomore year: “We worked round-the-clock designing, debugging, and testing—some teammates even developed premature gray hair due to the pressure.”
Perseverance and relentless training are the only paths to becoming an HDU Intelligent Vehicle Team member. The journey to prepare for the Intelligent Vehicle Competition is arduous and prolonged. Team members burn the midnight oil, refining designs and optimizing control algorithms countless times, all to achieve lightning-fast performance on the racetrack and earn applause and awe. Every student who completes this transformative process evolves from a “bronze-level novice” into a confident “champion.”When HDU first competed in 2006, it secured only a third prize. By 2024, at the 19th National Finals, the team claimed four national championships in categories including the Electromagnetic Group, Model Group, Hovercraft Group, and NXP Camera Group, marking its sixth overall national championship title. Over nearly two decades, HDU’s Intelligent Vehicle Team has risen from obscurity to become a “champion benchmark” in the competition circuit, inspiring awe with its relentless pursuit of excellence.
Laying a Solid Foundation for Breakthroughs: Multidisciplinary Integration Forges an Innovative Edge
From the establishment of a “curriculum-competition-project” scientific research and education system to the innovation of a “multidisciplinary integration” training model, our university has gradually built a stage for students to pursue their technological dreams. Professor Chen Long, the coach of HDU’s Intelligent Vehicle Competition team, remarked, “The Intelligent Vehicle Competition involves significant unpredictability. HDU’s consistent success over the years stems from a combination of factors, including institutional support, dedicated coaching, and a thriving competition culture.” During training, team members must integrate multidisciplinary knowledge in automatic control, embedded systems, electronics, sensor technology, and mechanical design to collaboratively design, assemble, debug, and optimize intelligent vehicles. Throughout the months-long preparation period, effective division of labor and close teamwork are essential, fostering strong collaborative spirit and project management skills. As such, the competition not only provides students with an innovative platform to bridge theoretical knowledge and practical application but also serves as a vital incubator for cultivating versatile talent. Over the past five years, 64.3% of students honed through the Intelligent Vehicle Competition have pursued advanced studies at prestigious institutions both domestically and abroad, including Zhejiang University and the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. Meanwhile, Huawei and Hikvision have become top employers for award-winning participants in recent years. Undoubtedly, the Intelligent Vehicle Competition has emerged as a shining hallmark of HDU’s innovative talent development, playing a pivotal role in advancing interdisciplinary integration and promoting students’ holistic growth.
Reigniting the Peak: A New Chapter After 15 Years
In 2010, HDU hosted the National College Student Intelligent Vehicle Competition for the first time, claiming the top national ranking with two special awards and one first prize. Now, as Vice President Li Wenjun received the competition flag at Harbin Engineering University on August 22, 2024, the National College Student Intelligent Vehicle Competition is set to enter “Hangzhou Time” once again. Hangzhou, a city renowned for tech giants like Alibaba and Hikvision, and home to rising stars such as Unitree and DeepSeek (known locally as “Hangzhou’s Six Rising Dragons”), will host the 20th edition of this prestigious event in 2025. The competition will return to its roots, celebrating a legacy of innovation and excellence. In 2025, let us gather by West Lake to witness students nationwide craft a new chapter in the Intelligent Vehicle Competition. With vehicle models as their pens and race tracks as their canvases, they will redefine the future of intelligent mobility. The stage is set—Hangzhou awaits!
