Rules for the 33rd IGVC http://www.igvc.org/2026rules.pdf
| igvc_2026_rules_version_30_june_25.pdf |
| igvc_autonomy_for_intelligent_vehicles.pdf |
33rd Annual
Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC) -2026
On-Site Program
29 May-1 June 2026
Oakland University
Rochester Michigan
IGVC is located at Parking Lot 37
Southeast corner Squirrel Rd & Pioneer Dr
Professor Emeritus Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Dr Charles Reinholtz
Invitation to the 33rd Annual IGVC
Invitation to the 33rd Annual IGVC
32nd IGVC Overview Slideshow
2026 IGVC News
2026 Rules to be published by the end of June
2026 Registration opens soon this summer
A 2026 Top Performer Award will be added to the current Awards for the three top Ranked teams competing in both AutoNav & Self Drive
Send your questions to:
IGVCquestions@yahoo.com
or
gerald.lane50@gmail.com
2025 Teams & Awards Slideshow
IGVC-2025 Result summary
What A Fabulous 32nd IGVC Competition!!
32nd Annual IGVC of 2025 was a stunning success with:
-- 4 robots completing the AutoNav course with most of them completing multiple times!
-- 2 robots completing Self Drive multiple times and four universities achieved Self Drive function testing
-- a post covid record high of 17 university teams qualifying for AutoNav
-- Design finalists with a record four Michigan university teams: two from Lawrence Technological University, Wayne State & U of M and US Allies; Canada & Australia (1st place to Monash University Australia)
-- great camaraderie between competing Universities sharing Equipment between teams to keep the robots going
Results & Awards for the 32ND Annual Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition
Oakland University
Rochester, Michigan
May 30th - June 2nd, 2025
Auto-Nav Challenge
1. University of Oklahoma Team: Twistopher
Distance: Completed course, 2:20
Award: $3000
Grand Award Points: 24
2. Millersville University of Pennsylvania Team: ALiEN 6.0
Distance: Completed course, 2:57
Award: $2000
Grand Award Points: 20
3. Manipal Institute of Technology Team: STEVE
Distance: Completed course, 3:02
Award: $1500
Grand Award Points: 16
4. Hosei University Team: Orange2025
Distance: Completed course, 4:59
Award: $1000
Grand Award Points: 12
5. NMIMS MPSTME Team: Kaizen V2
Distance: 151ft
Award: $400
Grand Award Points: 4
6. Texas A & M University, Kingsville Team: Robohog
Distance: 141ft
Award: $300
Grand Award Points: 2
7. Military Technical College Team: Zoser
Distance: 127ft
8. Millersville University Team: N.A.G.L.F.A.R.E
Distance: 115ft
9. Istanbul Technical University Team: Bumble Bee
Distance: 110ft
10. Old Dominion University Team: Little Blue
Distance: 101ft
11. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Team: mARVin 2.0
Distance: 85ft
12. IIT Madras Team: Vizhi
Distance: 40ft
13. Virginia Polytechnic Institute Team: Bowser
Distance: 39ft
14. Vellore Institute of Technology Team: Qubi
Distance: 20ft
Design Competition – Finals:
1. Monash University Team: ESDA - Asterius
Award: $600
Grand Award Points: 6
2. Lawrence Technological University Team: Turbo Blue
Award: $500
Grand Award Points: 5
3. Lawrence Technological University Team: Schoolbus
Award: $1000
Grand Award Points: 8
4. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Team: mARVin 2.0
Award: $750
Grand Award Points: 6
5. Wayne State University Team: Shanti
Award: $200
Grand Award Points: 2
6. University of Toronto Team: Espresso
Award: $100
Grand Award Points: 1
Auto-Nav Design Competition – Group A:
1. Lawrence Technological University Team: Schoolbus
Points: 2254
2. University of Toronto Team: Espresso
Points: 2164
3. University of Oklahoma Team: Twistopher
Points: 2117
4. Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal Team: STEVE
Points: 2088
5. Military Technical College Team: Zoser
Points: 2021
6. Texas A&M at Kingsville Team: Robohog
Points: 1837
7. Vellore Institute of Technology Team: Qubi
Points: 1836
8. University of Bridgeport Team: TrUBot
Points: 1699
9. Rutgers University Team: Going Merry
Points: 1378
Auto-Nav Design Competition – Group B:
1. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Team: mARVin 2.0
Points: 2431
2. Lawrence Technological University Team: Turbo Blue
Points: 2317
3. University of Detroit Mercy Team: Annie
Points: 2295
4. Istanbul Technical University Team: Bumble Bee
Points: 2282
5. Oakland University Team: Hindsight
Points: 2257
5. Virginia Polytechnic Institute Team: Bowser
Points: 2257
7. Millersville University Team: Alien 6.0
Points: 2170
8. Old Dominion University Team: Little Blue
Points: 2155
9. University of Texas – Arlington Team: Robo-F1
Points: 2077
Auto-Nav Design Competition – Group C:
1. Wayne State University Team: Shanti
Points: 2501
2. Monash University Team: ESDA-Asterius
Points: 2408
3. Hosei University Team: Orange2025
Points: 2386
4. Indian Institute of Technology, Madras Team: Vizhi
Points: 2375
5. Delhi Technological University Team: Ashwini
Points: 2231
6. Millersville University Team: N.A.G.L.F.A.R.E.
Points: 2110
7. NMIMS, Mumbai Team: Kaizen V2
Points: 2081
8. Oakland University Team: TurboMind
Points: 1983
Self-Drive Challenge
1. Hosei University Team: Orange2025
Completed course.
Award: $3000
2. Lawrence Technological University Team: Schoolbus
Completed course.
Award: $2000
3. Oakland University Team: TurboMind
Award: $600
Manipal Institute of Technology Team: STEVE
Rookie of the Year Award
Texas A & M University, Kingsville Team: Robohog
Award: $1000
Honorary Grand Awards combining performance and design!
Auto-Nav Grand Award
1. University of Oklahoma Team: Twistopher
Award: Lescoe Cup
Grand Award Points: 24
2. Millersville University of Pennsylvania Team: ALiEN 6.0
Award: Lescoe Trophy
Grand Award Points: 20
3. Manipal Institute of Technology Team: STEVE
Award: Lescoe Award
Grand Award Points: 16
4. Hosei University Team: Orange2025
Grand Award Points: 12
5. Lawrence Technological University Team: Orange2025
Grand Award Points: 8
6. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Team: Orange2025
Grand Award Points: 6
6. Monash University Team: Orange2025
Grand Award Points: 6
8. Lawrence Technological University Team: Turbo Blue
Grand Award Points: 5
9. NMIMS MPSTME Team: Kaizen V2
Grand Award Points: 4
10. Texas A & M University, Kingsville Team: Robohog
Grand Award Points: 2
10. Wayne State University Team: Shanti
Grand Award Points: 2
12. University of Toronto Team: Espresso
Grand Award Points: 1
Self Drive Grand Award
1. Lawrence Technological University Team: Schoolbus
Grand Award Points: 28
2. Hosei University Team: Orange2025
Grand Award Points: 24
3. Oakland University Team: TurboMind
Grand Award Points: 8
4. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor Team: mARVin 2.0
Grand Award Points: 6
4. Monash University Team: ESDA - Asterius
Grand Award Points: 6
6. Lawrence Technological University Team: Turbo Blue
Grand Award Points: 5
7. Wayne State University Team: Shanti
Grand Award Points: 2
8. University of Toronto Team: Espresso
Grand Award Points: 1
2025 IGVC Robot Design Concepts
IGVC Students & Michigan Jobs
MEDC (Michigan Economic Development Corp) sponsored the IGVC competition because we are deeply committed to developing the tech talent pipeline for Michigan. Doing this will support employer growth, individual growth, and overall growth for Michigan communities across the state. As part of that initiative, we launched the “You Can in Michigan” initiative in late 2023 to provide resources to students and job seekers that are considering Michigan for their next career move. Whether you are located in Michigan now, or anywhere else, there is great information about industries, employers, job opportunities, internships, and information about the many regions across the state for living.
Insider Tip for the IGVC students. Take your time reading the job postings carefully and analyzing what you have on your resume. Make updates for soft and hard skills that employers are looking for that you might have overlooked on your resume initially. Then update your resume and add the new one to the Portal to use for the Match Resume process. This will increase the quality of the jobs to your skill set, AND will increase your likelihood of getting through the employer applicant tracking systems! It takes more time to do this….but will greatly increase your chances of getting to the interview stage. Also, be sure to turn on Email alerts after you’d done all your tweaking so new job postings will get sent to your email inbox.
MEDC (Michigan Economic Development Corp) sponsored the IGVC competition because we are deeply committed to developing the tech talent pipeline for Michigan. Doing this will support employer growth, individual growth, and overall growth for Michigan communities across the state. As part of that initiative, we launched the “You Can in Michigan” initiative in late 2023 to provide resources to students and job seekers that are considering Michigan for their next career move. Whether you are located in Michigan now, or anywhere else, there is great information about industries, employers, job opportunities, internships, and information about the many regions across the state for living.
- www.TheMichiganLife.org – The Michigan Life platform provides a great overview of Major Industries, Major Employers, a Cost of Living Calculator in case you are moving from another state, a Quiz in case you’d like to figure out where in the state you’d like to live, and great information about the different regions of the state, and lots about all the fun things to do in Michigan when you’re not working (your 5-9 time).
- www.MichiganCareerPortal.org – the Michigan Career Portal is the largest job board platform of Michigan job openings currently available. You will need to create an account (just your first and last name, email, a password, city state and zipcode, and whether you are a student or a job seeker). At that point you have access to look at all open jobs. Upload your resume to the portal, turn on Match Resume, and the system analyzes your education, skills and experience to recommend jobs that are a good fit for you. Then use filters to narrow down a target location, industry, or even company. When you click Apply Now on a job posting you’ll be directed to the employer website to actually apply for the job. Over 140,000 job opportunities are open in the state (4000 are in engineering).
Insider Tip for the IGVC students. Take your time reading the job postings carefully and analyzing what you have on your resume. Make updates for soft and hard skills that employers are looking for that you might have overlooked on your resume initially. Then update your resume and add the new one to the Portal to use for the Match Resume process. This will increase the quality of the jobs to your skill set, AND will increase your likelihood of getting through the employer applicant tracking systems! It takes more time to do this….but will greatly increase your chances of getting to the interview stage. Also, be sure to turn on Email alerts after you’d done all your tweaking so new job postings will get sent to your email inbox.
Wayne State Thank You Letter to IGVC Judges
Below are prior 2025 On-site Program notes to student teams
All IGVC teams note
The GPS waypoints to be used in AutoNav 2025 are the following
Only one waypoint used for AutoNav Main course
South Waypoint of AutoNav course
42.40'04.53974", -83.13'09,57951"
and three waypoints available on the practice course
North 42.40'05.56255",-83.13'06.45144"
Mid 42.40'05.10946" ,-83.13'06.40432"
South 42.40.04.65621" ,-83.13'06.35756"
Points are marked with white paint dot and orange cones
The GPS waypoints to be used in AutoNav 2025 are the following
Only one waypoint used for AutoNav Main course
South Waypoint of AutoNav course
42.40'04.53974", -83.13'09,57951"
and three waypoints available on the practice course
North 42.40'05.56255",-83.13'06.45144"
Mid 42.40'05.10946" ,-83.13'06.40432"
South 42.40.04.65621" ,-83.13'06.35756"
Points are marked with white paint dot and orange cones
Oakland University Emergency # 248-370-3331
IGVC Design Schedule
Sunday Morning Design Finalists to be announced at
5 PM Saturday
2025 Self Drive Challenge competitors
Please see the link below to download Self Drive video clips that represent many of the Self Drive function tests as described by the video narrator.
The image below is a screen shot to show the 17 videos available, they a not touch downloadable go to the web link!Feb 14th Update
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13kyczzaZnjK-y_yGka88U5lhZ23liJoX
Meet the
2025 Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition
Technical Staff
Students, faculty and sponsors have four days of on-site, under the tent interaction with the IGVC technical staff.
However actually yearlong interaction with the staff works throughout the year updating rules website, securing sponsorships and collaborators, equipment ordering and setup, reading & evaluating technical papers, judging for design, AutoNav Self Drive and qualifications, and award distribution and media collaboration.
Students and faculty are encouraged to interact directly with the Technical Staff at IGVC
Here’s the IGVC Technical Staff:
Design Challenge
The Design Challenge is mandatory for every team, cornerstone of IGVC education objective and dual purpose for university academic credit, Design reports are published and archived in the IGVC website for future technical and student career references.
Chief Judge:
Douglas Mackenzie Ph.D. Head of the Intelligent Mobility Group at the Hyundai Mobis, GaTech PhD in comp vis & nav and fmr Int Aerial robotics competition team member and Platinum IGVC sponsor
Judges:
Nick Zorka Ph.D. Ford Motor Co (ret)
Dan Bartz Volkswagen Group of America, Principal Engineer - Automated Driving, M.S. Carnegie Mellon University, Robotics
Dave LaRue Ph.D. FEV NA, Sr. Principal Engineer: Autonomy & Functional Safety & Security; ASU Ph.D. Real Time Controls
Matthew Berkemeier Ph.D. Continental Automotive Systems, Principal Software Engineer and Sr Mobile Robotics Expert
Leonid Tikh BAE Systems, Combat Mission Systems Senior Principal, Autonomous Ground Vehicles Lead, fmr Ford Mo. Co., Advanced Vehicle Technology & Research Autonomous and Robotics Lead
Hamzeh Alzubi Ph.D. Connected and Automated Mobility Manager FEV North America, Inc Ph.D. Systems Engineering Oakland University
Edzko Smid Ph.D. Magna International, Corp R&D ADAS, Autonomous Vehicles and Advanced E/E Architectures. Ph.D. Oakland University, Systems Eng.
Auto Nav Challenge
AutoNav the original IGVC Challenge first rum in 1993 requires autonomy implemented through machine vision, image understanding & autonomous GPS navigation
Chief Judge:
Stephanie Frederick US Army GVSC ground combat vehicle engineer Theta Tau
Judges
Phillip Frederick US Army GVSC Robotics software engineering lead Theta Tau
Bernard Theisen IGVC Co-Chair and US GVSC Army Robotics Autonomy research program manager
Qualification Chief Judge
Eduardo Cerame Autonomy integration engineer for US Army GVSC with specialties in autonomy simulation and lab development
Self Drive Challenge
Self Drive starting in 2017, requires advanced controls including AI to build on autonomy for robots to drive in accordance with the Rules of the Road.
Chief Judge & Co-Chair
Jane Tarakhovsky Senior Engineer at Qualcomm Automotive division Systems Engineering PhD student at Oakland University,
Judges
Chris Van Den Elzen Owner ADAS Collective, Masters in AI and Robotic Systems Oakland University & SAE Super Mileage Competition team, Industry Autonomy Expert working in ADAS and Autonomy
David Agnew Fmr head ADAS/AD R&D in automotive and mobile robotics. BSME University of Michigan. Vehicle safety startup BOD. AUVSI BOD. First Lego Robotics head coach. Twenty-two mechatronic patents mechatronics.
Organizing Committee
Andrew Kosinski Mechanical Engineer Michigan State University, IGVC Operations Director & US Army GVSC Ground Robotics Engineer
Jerry Lane Mechanical Engineer Univ of Detroit, IGVC Co-Chair & Founder, Theta Tau, Fmr US Army Robotics Div Chief, Fmr judge Int Aerial Robotics Comp, and Industry Robotics Technology & Project Developer
Osamah Rawashdeh Ph.D. IGVC Co-Chair Oakland University Electrical Engineering Department Chair and Loon Copter competition award team
Bernard Theisen IGVC Co-chair; Oakland University MS Engineering, Theta Tau, currently Division Chief, Ground Vehicle Robotics, GVSC
Emeritus
Ka C Cheok Ph.D. IGVC Co-Founder & Fmr Co-Chair Prof of Systems Engineering Many PhD graduates in advanced controls and autonomy
2025 Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition
Technical Staff
Students, faculty and sponsors have four days of on-site, under the tent interaction with the IGVC technical staff.
However actually yearlong interaction with the staff works throughout the year updating rules website, securing sponsorships and collaborators, equipment ordering and setup, reading & evaluating technical papers, judging for design, AutoNav Self Drive and qualifications, and award distribution and media collaboration.
Students and faculty are encouraged to interact directly with the Technical Staff at IGVC
Here’s the IGVC Technical Staff:
Design Challenge
The Design Challenge is mandatory for every team, cornerstone of IGVC education objective and dual purpose for university academic credit, Design reports are published and archived in the IGVC website for future technical and student career references.
Chief Judge:
Douglas Mackenzie Ph.D. Head of the Intelligent Mobility Group at the Hyundai Mobis, GaTech PhD in comp vis & nav and fmr Int Aerial robotics competition team member and Platinum IGVC sponsor
Judges:
Nick Zorka Ph.D. Ford Motor Co (ret)
Dan Bartz Volkswagen Group of America, Principal Engineer - Automated Driving, M.S. Carnegie Mellon University, Robotics
Dave LaRue Ph.D. FEV NA, Sr. Principal Engineer: Autonomy & Functional Safety & Security; ASU Ph.D. Real Time Controls
Matthew Berkemeier Ph.D. Continental Automotive Systems, Principal Software Engineer and Sr Mobile Robotics Expert
Leonid Tikh BAE Systems, Combat Mission Systems Senior Principal, Autonomous Ground Vehicles Lead, fmr Ford Mo. Co., Advanced Vehicle Technology & Research Autonomous and Robotics Lead
Hamzeh Alzubi Ph.D. Connected and Automated Mobility Manager FEV North America, Inc Ph.D. Systems Engineering Oakland University
Edzko Smid Ph.D. Magna International, Corp R&D ADAS, Autonomous Vehicles and Advanced E/E Architectures. Ph.D. Oakland University, Systems Eng.
Auto Nav Challenge
AutoNav the original IGVC Challenge first rum in 1993 requires autonomy implemented through machine vision, image understanding & autonomous GPS navigation
Chief Judge:
Stephanie Frederick US Army GVSC ground combat vehicle engineer Theta Tau
Judges
Phillip Frederick US Army GVSC Robotics software engineering lead Theta Tau
Bernard Theisen IGVC Co-Chair and US GVSC Army Robotics Autonomy research program manager
Qualification Chief Judge
Eduardo Cerame Autonomy integration engineer for US Army GVSC with specialties in autonomy simulation and lab development
Self Drive Challenge
Self Drive starting in 2017, requires advanced controls including AI to build on autonomy for robots to drive in accordance with the Rules of the Road.
Chief Judge & Co-Chair
Jane Tarakhovsky Senior Engineer at Qualcomm Automotive division Systems Engineering PhD student at Oakland University,
Judges
Chris Van Den Elzen Owner ADAS Collective, Masters in AI and Robotic Systems Oakland University & SAE Super Mileage Competition team, Industry Autonomy Expert working in ADAS and Autonomy
David Agnew Fmr head ADAS/AD R&D in automotive and mobile robotics. BSME University of Michigan. Vehicle safety startup BOD. AUVSI BOD. First Lego Robotics head coach. Twenty-two mechatronic patents mechatronics.
Organizing Committee
Andrew Kosinski Mechanical Engineer Michigan State University, IGVC Operations Director & US Army GVSC Ground Robotics Engineer
Jerry Lane Mechanical Engineer Univ of Detroit, IGVC Co-Chair & Founder, Theta Tau, Fmr US Army Robotics Div Chief, Fmr judge Int Aerial Robotics Comp, and Industry Robotics Technology & Project Developer
Osamah Rawashdeh Ph.D. IGVC Co-Chair Oakland University Electrical Engineering Department Chair and Loon Copter competition award team
Bernard Theisen IGVC Co-chair; Oakland University MS Engineering, Theta Tau, currently Division Chief, Ground Vehicle Robotics, GVSC
Emeritus
Ka C Cheok Ph.D. IGVC Co-Founder & Fmr Co-Chair Prof of Systems Engineering Many PhD graduates in advanced controls and autonomy
Team Captains meetings Changes
AutoNav Saturday 1130 at AutoNav Course
Self Drive Saturday 1210-1pm in the Design Tent
AutoNav Saturday 1130 at AutoNav Course
Self Drive Saturday 1210-1pm in the Design Tent
IGVC Progress will be posted in near real-time throughout the competition, see below for four IGVC events: Qualification, AutoNav, Design & Self Drive
Qualification Results
"copy & paste link below in your browser"
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/122b0cPpBGmY-JGjFJHL1JnR7aDCNdAsp/edit?gid=560464359#gid=560464359
AutoNav Results
"copy & paste link below in your browser"
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HJoqp3hoFHciS1sbt0ljIosfzzsGeUgh/edit?gid=901825076#gid=901825076
"copy & paste link below in your browser"
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HJoqp3hoFHciS1sbt0ljIosfzzsGeUgh/edit?gid=901825076#gid=901825076
Design Results
"copy & paste link below in your browser"
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CSGvKFjtiDDLWLdA1PmrOfJOVsC-ijzM/edit?gid=1669484218#gid=1669484218
"copy & paste link below in your browser"
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CSGvKFjtiDDLWLdA1PmrOfJOVsC-ijzM/edit?gid=1669484218#gid=1669484218
Self Drive Results
"copy & paste link below in your browser"
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JTfjs4MhMl4nvnwE5kPi7uxtcv3mm6LH/edit?gid=902186984#gid=902186984
"copy & paste link below in your browser"
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JTfjs4MhMl4nvnwE5kPi7uxtcv3mm6LH/edit?gid=902186984#gid=902186984
2025 IGVC Sponsorships now available
| 2025_igvc_sponsorship_packet.pdf |
2025 IGVC Team Registration Link
New for 2025
AutoNav robots are now the robot vehicle class for Self Drive
A team can now register for either AutoNav or Self Drive or Both
If a team registers for both, the registration is discounted $250 to a total of $750 for both AutoNav and Self Drive
2025 updated Rules are below in an Advanced Draft Version 30 July 2024
IGVC Site Rules Reminders
Please No team, student or faculty parking at the competition site Parking Lot 37.
Only quick drop-off is allowed. All Students teams and faculty park in the North lot #39 or the East lot #35
No student team entry of the AutoNav course on the west side of parking lot 37
Please be respectful of other teams, if you have to saw, drill, hammer or any other loud noises please do your work outside the tent!
Battery chargers must be plugged directly into the IGVC power supply, no intermediate adapters are allowed in accordance with the July 2024 published rules!
2025 rules
| igvc_2025_rules_version_30_july_2024.pdf |
Student resumes for Sponsors are requested
For additional IGVC info go to IGVC website at www.IGVC.org
Reference Material below:
Reference Material below:
