On August 23, the National Finals of the 2026 Smart Car Race came to a successful close at Anhui University. SZPU teams remained composed under pressure and delivered outstanding performances, securing two First Prizes, three Second Prizes, and one Third Prize at the National Finals, for a total of six national awards. This marked SZPU’s best-ever performance in the competition and represented a historic breakthrough in the university’s undergraduate division results.

Award Ceremony

During the competition, SZPU team members remained focused and repeatedly tested and optimized key aspects of their projects, including embedded hardware circuits, control algorithms, sensor data processing, and software code. The five-member SZPU team, composed of Zhang Jianlin, Zhuang Ziqi, Li Feiyang, Song Yucheng, and Huang Pengtao, competed in the Undergraduate Karting Sprint category under the guidance of instructors Lin Yanyan and Cui Hongwei, facing teams from leading universities such as Harbin Institute of Technology, the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, and Shandong University. Amid intense competition from leading university teams, the SZPU team claimed First Prize in the National Finals with its solid technical foundation, composed performance under pressure, and seamless teamwork. In the Feiyanzoubi (3D Track Navigation) category of the Vocational Education division, the SZPU team of Lin Zeping, Wang Pengyu, and Han Jiong, guided by instructors Yao Pengpeng and Sun Qingxuan, claimed First Prize at the national level. Another team, consisting of Liu Haoming, Huang Bangjue, and Lao Xinglin under the guidance of instructors Huang Changwei and Yang Li, earned Second Prize in the Zoumaguanbei (Smart Vehicle Navigation Challenge).

Since its inception in 2006, the National Smart Car Race has become a widely recognized engineering practice and innovation competition for university students in China. Using smart cars as the platform, the competition requires participants to independently complete sensor configuration, embedded hardware design, control program development, and system debugging within a specified framework, testing their innovative thinking, engineering practice, and teamwork skills through hands-on challenges. This year’s competition was hosted by the Chinese Association of Automation (CAA) and organized by Anhui University. The competition attracted 3,620 teams from 642 universities across nine regional divisions. After a rigorous selection process, 664 teams representing 267 universities, with more than 2,300 faculty members and students, advanced to the main-track National Finals. The racing events integrate multidisciplinary knowledge in automatic control, embedded systems, sensing technologies, electronic circuits, and mechanical structures, with a particular focus on teams’ capabilities in hardware-software co-design, system integration, and on-site response.

In recent years, SZPU has integrated high-level academic competitions throughout the entire talent cultivation process, organizing students from different schools and disciplines to form cross-disciplinary teams and participate in competitions. From embedded hardware circuit design to control program development, and from hardware-software integration testing to on-site parameter optimization, participating faculty members and students have continuously strengthened their skills through repeated testing and iteration. Looking ahead, the participating teams will continue to improve the competition-driven talent development mechanism, using competitions as a catalyst for learning, teaching and innovation. The outcomes of these competitions will be further integrated into program development and curriculum improvement, helping cultivate more highly skilled professionals with innovative thinking, engineering practice capabilities and strong teamwork skills.

(Huang Mengyuan, Zhang Kai, Sun Qingxuan, Huang Changwei from School of Automotive and Transportation Engineering, School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, and School of Integrated Circuits)