Chongqing –How smart can an autonomous vehicle really be? And which one has the strongest brain? On August 20^th, the Strongest Car Brain Challenge of the well-known 2021 i-Vista was held at Chongqing Liangjiang Collaborative Innovation Area. Reporters from iChongqing with a YouTuber, Noel Lee, covered this prestigious battle among autonomous vehicles online and offline and broadcast it to overseas audiences on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

The Strongest Car Brain Challenge was one important competition of the i-Vista. Participated by car manufacturing enterprises, universities, and R&D institutions, the challenge was set to test the reacting, decision-making, and handling capability of L4 and L5 autonomous vehicles on the complicated city road. On the 3.2-kilometer racing road of the challenge, there were 12 random simulated scenarios like T-shape intersection, red lights, traffic interferences, merging traffic flows, and so forth. One of the most challenging parts was a sudden pedestrian crossing. Two teams from Seres, a vehicle manufacturer based in Chongqing, won the Grand and First Prizes through a half-day competition.

After the competition, the on-site reporter, Xuelin, joined by James and Noel Lee online, had an exclusive chance to ride on the Champion vehicle from Seres and bring the smartest and strongest car brain to overseas audiences. The champion car, without any human interference, autonomously took our on-site reporter and online audiences to go through simulated city road scenarios with complicated situations like traffic interferences, red lights, the multiple–curve road, and other random obstacles that might be met by the driver’s daily life. After witnessing how this autonomous vehicle completed speed acceleration, smooth turning to avoid obstacles, timely speed reduction and soft stops in front of red lights or unexpected obstacles, and paralleling parking with ease, our reporters and audiences were impressed by the vehicle’s smartness and intelligence. Many audiences left their thumbs up and comment about their willingness to use autonomous vehicles in daily life. Some raised some questions about the functions of the vehicle as well as its handling capability in extreme weather. The total hits of the live stream were nearly 20,000.