The U.S. Department of Energy, General Motors and MathWorks launch EcoCAR Mobility Challenge

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), General Motors and MathWorks today announced the launch of the EcoCAR Mobility Challenge, the latest DOE-sponsored Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition (AVTC), revealing the 12 competing universities and the Chevrolet Blazer as the vehicle platform selected for the competition. 

The headline sponsors are the U.S. Department of Energy, General Motors, and MathWorks, and the challenge is managed by Argonne National Laboratory, making EcoCAR the ultimate training ground for future leaders in the automotive industry.  

"The future of transportation and mobility is evolving and bringing forth new technologies, challenges, and opportunities" said Acting Assistant Secretary, Cathy Tripodi. "The EcoCAR Mobility Challenge allows students to develop innovative technologies to keep America at the forefront of this changing landscape and provide consumers convenient, cost-effective options for personal mobility."

EcoCAR is a collegiate automotive competition aimed at developing a highly skilled, domestic workforce by providing hands-on experience designing and building next-generation mobility solutions to meet our nation's future energy and mobility challenges. Participating teams will apply advanced propulsion systems, electrification, SAE Level 2 automation, and vehicle connectivity to improve the energy efficiency of a 2019 Chevrolet Blazer - all while balancing factors such as emissions, safety, utility, and consumer acceptability.  SAE Level 2 automation refers to a vehicle that has combined automated functions, like acceleration and steering, but the driver must remain engaged with the driving task and monitor the environment at all times.

EcoCAR teams will use onboard sensors and wireless communication from the vehicles surrounding environment to improve overall operation efficiency in the connected urban environment of the future. 

General Motors will provide each team with a 2019 Chevrolet Blazer, which they have four years to design, integrate and refine into a new, advanced technology, energy-efficient mobility solution for the carsharing market. Teams will follow a real-world vehicle development process to meet rigorous technical constraints throughout the four-year competition, which will conclude in the summer of 2022.

"We continue to support EcoCAR because students gain tremendous technical insights, leadership skills and hands-on experience while competing in AVTCs," said Dan Nicholson, GM vice president, Global Propulsion Systems. "The challenges and solutions these students will develop working with their Chevrolet Blazers align with GM's path to zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion."

A foundational principle of EcoCAR is the use of Model-Based Design, a mathematical and visual design approach using MATLAB and Simulink that enables users to quickly and cost-effectively manage projects, collaborate on designs, and develop complex embedded systems.

"EcoCAR serves as an experimental laboratory, where students get to play and learn with real world tools and technologies that will help them secure jobs and build careers," said Lauren Tabolinsky, academic program manager, MathWorks. "We are excited to once again partner with the DOE and GM in supporting this next generation of engineers as they adopt multi-disciplinary design and development approaches to experiment, fine-tune and succeed in this challenge."

To be successful, universities will need to recruit a diverse team of students and faculty, spanning many engineering disciplines such as mechanical, electrical, computer and software engineering, as well as communications, marketing and project management. This multi-disciplinary emphasis imitates a real-world automotive industry environment and provides graduates the technical and leadership skills needed to enter the field fully prepared for careers that will help shape the energy and mobility industry for years to come.

The participating universities include:

• Colorado State University (Fort Collins, CO)
• Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Daytona Beach, FL)
• Georgia Tech (Atlanta, GA)
• McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada)
• Mississippi State University (Starkville, MS)
• The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH)
• University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa, AL)
• University of Tennessee, Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
• University of Washington (Seattle, WA)
• University of Waterloo (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada)
• Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA)
• West Virginia University (Morgantown, WV)

"EcoCAR puts students in the driver's seat of their education by providing hands-on, technical training mirroring the real-world product development process of a General Motors vehicle," said Kristen Wahl, director of the Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition (AVTC) program at Argonne National Laboratory. "In the face of increasing global competition, EcoCAR showcases North America's best and brightest students in STEM and exemplifies American competitiveness in automotive engineering."

EcoCAR builds on a proud 30-year history of DOE AVTCs that exemplify the power of public-private partnerships in providing invaluable hands-on skills to promising, young minds ready to enter the workforce. AVTCs influence and shape engineering curriculum at the university level to cultivate future transportation leaders and enhance the North American engineering workforce.

Additional sponsors joining DOE, General Motors and MathWorks include:

NXP Semiconductors, Inc.; National Science Foundation; Intel Corporation; American Axle Manufacturing; Robert Bosch, LLC; PACCAR, Inc.; dSPACE, Inc.; Siemens PLM Software; Denso International America; Horiba; Delphi Technologies; California Air Resources Board; Proterra, Inc; tesa tape; Vector North America, Inc.; The Electric Power Research Institute, Inc.

For more information about the student engineering program, the participating schools or the competition sponsors, please visit or avtcseries.org.

About EcoCAR Mobility Challenge:

EcoCAR Mobility Challenge is a four-year collegiate engineering program that builds on the successful 30-year history of Department of Energy Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions (AVTC) by giving engineering students the chance to design and build advanced vehicle technologies that improve energy efficiency. General Motors provides each of the 12 competing teams with a 2019 Chevrolet Blazer, as well as vehicle components, seed money, technical mentoring and operational support. MathWorks provides teams with a full suite of software tools, simulation models, training, technical mentoring and operational support. The U.S. Department of Energy and its research and development facility, Argonne National Laboratory, provide competition management, team evaluation and logistical support. Other sponsors provide hardware, software and training. Through this important public/private partnership, EcoCAR provides invaluable hands-on skills to promising, young minds ready to enter the workforce.

About Visionary & Leadership EcoCAR Mobility Sponsors:

NXP enables the secure connections and infrastructure for a smarter world.  It is a proud supporter of the EcoCAR challenge because the program helps develop the technical skills of next-generation engineers while cultivating the enthusiasm, creativity and teamwork they'll need to shape the future of mobility.  NXP

Intel: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/automotive/autonomous-vehicles.html

American Axle & Manufacturing (AAM) is a premier, global leader in design, engineering, validation and manufacturing of driveline, metal forming, powertrain, and casting technologies for automotive, commercial and industrial markets. Headquartered in Detroit, AAM has over 25,000 associates operating at more than 90 facilities in 17 countries to support our customers on global and regional platforms with a focus on quality, operational excellence and technology leadership.  To learn more, visit www.aam.com.

Bosch: www.bosch.us

PACCAR is a global technology leader in the design, manufacture and customer support of high-quality light-, medium-, and heavy-duty trucks under the Kenworth, Peterbilt, and DAF nameplates.  PACCAR also designs and manufactures advanced diesel engines, provides financial services and information technology, and distributes truck parts related to its principal business. PACCAR shares are listed on Nasdaq Global Select Market, symbol PCAR.  Its homepage is www.paccar.com.

dSPACE develops and distributes integrated hardware and software tools for developing and testing electronic control units and mechatronic controls. dSPACE 

SOURCE EcoCAR