2019 Big Data Expo to hold self-driving challenge

The 2019 Self-driving Global Challenge will be held during the 2019 Big Data Expo in Guiyang, capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province, and has received applications from engineers from 13 countries.

Since the registration of the challenge started in March, it has attracted 200 teams and individuals to apply. Following the selection process, 32 teams from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Turkey, South Korea, Pakistan, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, India, Estonia, Canada, and Egypt were chosen.

The challenge aims to lower the threshold of self-driving testing and practice, and bring self-driving technologies from the lab to the market. It is also expected to attract global universities, organizations, and talents to cooperate with Guizhou and boost the development of the self-driving industry.

Amazon Web Services, an on-demand cloud computing platform provider, Velodyne, a top lidar manufacturer, Udacity, a for-profit educational organization, and Neousys, a technology company focusing on embedded modules and systems, will sponsor the challenge.

The challenge includes one competition for full-size self-driving cars to accomplish a series of tasks on the roads of Guizhou Science City, and one competition for small size cars to compete on mini tracks.