Braving extreme temperatures and crosswinds exceeding 60 km/h, a solar-powered car is set to speed across 3,000 kilometres from Darwin to Adelaide through the Australian outback.
Called Aagneya, this 'intelligent' car, built, designed and developed by students of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, will compete in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge 2025, a global innovation challenge in solar technology to be held from August 24 to August 31, stated a report by The New Indian Express.
This car has been developed by the Agnirath team from the Centre for Innovation (CFI) and can make real-time decisions during the race, factoring in weather, solar irradiance, and terrain, allowing the team to dynamically optimise its speed and energy usage.
"The event is one of the most demanding engineering competitions in the world. Daytime temperatures soar above 50°C and drop below 5°C at night. Crosswinds often exceed 60 km/h, challenging vehicle stability and aerodynamics," said Sairam J, member of team Agnirath.
He added that after carefully analysing performance data, every element of the car's design, performance, and efficiency was re-imagined. To reduce Aagneya's weight, it has been transitioned entirely to a carbon fibre body.
Students have integrated a machine learning-based strategy module that makes real-time decisions during the race, factoring in weather, solar irradiance, and terrain, among other factors. "All these innovations result from over 15,000 hours of effort spent brainstorming, prototyping, testing, and refining," said Sairam.
Held once every two years, the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge invites teams from around the world to Australia to showcase their innovation by driving energy-efficient electric vehicles designed, engineered, and built by them and powered through solar energy.
V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, unveiled the solar-powered vehicle at the campus on Friday, June 13, said that, "For this car to go to Australia, we need resources. We need to grow the institute, all of your start-ups need to flourish, and we want all of you to give back to the institute so that we can encourage more start-ups".
Notably, the institute had incubated more than 100 start-ups and filed for more than 470 patents in the last financial year alone. In 2021, Team Agnirath started with just six students, and now it has grown into a multidisciplinary team of 38 dedicated students from diverse disciplines, according to the report by The New Indian Express.
