University of Waterloo students race a driverless car on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway saw a different kind of race car take to the track this past weekend.

University of Waterloo students Brian Mao and Ben Zhang were part of a team that competed in the Indy Autonomous Challenge on Saturday for a $1 million U.S. top prize.

The challenge: to advance and push autonomous vehicle technology to the next level. 

"And what better way to do that than to push the limits and drive at speeds much faster than any regular car," Mao told CBC News from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"That would force control design or path finder algorithms to be that much more robust, that much more accurate and that much more competitively efficient."

Mao and Zhang teamed up with students from schools like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pittsburgh and the Rochester Institute of Technology. 

There were nine other teams from around the globe taking part in the race, each tasked with modifying a Dallara AV-21 race car.

"We make minor tweaks on where to place the ethernet cables and what hardware we decide to use as the interface between the computer and the car," explained Zhang, who is a master's student in electrical and computer engineering.

"What distinguishes each team is the software stack that's running behind the car, what algorithms are you using for each part that's required to achieve a fully autonomous vehicle," Mao added, who is a master's student in applied mathematics.

Zhang said the driver's seat was replaced with a computer system that is made up of different sensors and radars and cameras to allow the the vehicle to drive autonomously.

The price tag on Zhang's and Mao's team race car was about $1 million US, and it had the ability to top speeds of up to 200 km/h.

The competition was fierce, however. Zhang said other teams have dedicated research labs for this project and more time. But Zhang and Mao said a great asset to their team is the diversity of engineering, computer and mathematics background.

"We have all sorts of different ideas that could blend together," Mao said. "The diversity is what distinguishes us."

Mao and Zhang said after pouring many hours working and practicing with a simulator for this race, actually setting foot on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway,"feels amazing."