RACECAR Neo

Compete

BWSI RACECAR is inviting teams from around the world to participate in the Autonomous RACECAR Grand Prix 2025 competition! Located at the MIT Johnson Ice Rink, the Grand Prix is a multi-stage dynamic obstacle course that cars must autonomously traverse through as fast as they can. Competing teams race to see if their scripts are robust enough for their car to make it through the race unscathed. This race is a cumulative demonstration of all the concepts and skills learned in the RACECAR course.

Join teams from around the world today in the sport of autonomous racing! See you at the finish line!

Competition Details

General Rules

  • Teams must consist of a minimum of 3 members, and a maximum of 5 members
  • Teams must consist of a minimum of 1 adult mentor, and a maximum of 2 mentors
  • Team members must be either high school students or undergraduate students attending an accredited university
  • Each organization may submit a maximum of 2 teams
    • Organizations may bring additional visitors, but these visitors are not allowed to join the class or allowed to compete on the main competition floor
  • Teams must register with an appropriate team name, team color, and team logo that best represents their team, school, or organization

Hardware Requirements

  • Accepted teams are responsible for constructing and bringing their own autonomous vehicles to the final event. Cars must adhere to the following constraints:
    • Cost of all car components may not exceed $1500
    • Cars must be 1:14 in scale
    • Cars must use a brushed motor for driving
    • Cars must use the Hobbywing QUICRUN WP 1080 G2 Brushed 2-3s ESC for driving
    • Cars must use OVONIC 2s Lipo Battery 50C 2200mAh for powering motors
      • MIT BWSI can loan lithium polymer batteries (due to travel restrictions) if necessary
    • The rest of the car components can be derived from our robot setup guide here.

Travel Logistics

  • Accepted teams are responsible for organizing accomodations, such as food and housing, during their visit
  • The final competition is held on MIT Campus:
    • 77 Massachusetts Avenue
    • Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
  • Accepted teams must attend in-person class at BWSI on July 31st, 2025 for orientation, and must stay until the final event concludes on August 2nd, 2025
    • Practice areas are provided by MIT BWSI staff from Monday, July 28th, 2025 to Friday, August 1st, 2025
    • Accepted teams visiting MIT must abide by all rules stated by MIT staff
    • Complementary lunches are provided by MIT on the dates of the team’s arrival only for participating team members and team mentors

Application Schedule 2025

Leading up to the official competition, teams must complete four types of applications to demonstrate autonomous vehicle capabilities and competition readiness. The schedule for submitting this application may vary per team, but all four stages must be completed and verified by BWSI staff before June 1st, 2025. BWSI staff will respond to applications within 5-7 business days of submission.

Stage 1 | General Team Application

For the general team application, teams will register their members and mentors, as well as determine their team names, team color, and team logo. Upon submission of this application, teams will receive an invitation to the online Edly course to begin learning the curriculum.

Application Opens: January 1st, 2025

Application Closes: June 1st, 2025

General Team Application

Stage 2 | Virtual Course Completion

Teams that submit the general team application in Stage 1 will receive the virtual course completion application by email. Teams will submit their intent to compete in the summer competition, as well as demonstrate code that can drive through the virtual Grand Prix 2024 simulator.

BWSI staff will notify teams if they are accepted to compete in the summer competition after submission of this application. Applications are competitive, and not all teams may be accepted to compete in the summer.

Application Closes: June 1st, 2025

Stage 3 | Physical Car Verification

Teams that are accepted to compete in the summer competition will receive a physical car verification application by email. At this stage, teams will begin building their 1:14 scale vehicle in accordance to the competition hardware requirements. To advance to the next stage, teams must submit 5 images of their competition-ready vehicle at different angles, and 1 video demonstrating that the vehicle is capable of basic robot teleoperation (manual driving).

Application Closes: June 1st, 2025

Stage 4 | Autonomy Check

Teams that are accepted to compete in the summer competition will receive a autonomy check application by email. For this final application, teams will submit 1 video demonstrating autonomous capability of their vehicle in one of the following forms:

  1. Autonomous Parking
  2. Line Following or Lane Following
  3. Wall Following

Application Closes: June 1st, 2025

FAQs