Elefant Racing: Long Time No See, What News from Our Driverless Partners?

2022 has defied all of us. Ukrainians faced the realities of war, but we continue to fight on several fronts at once. One of them is the business front, where we continue to actively cooperate with our partners from Germany, Elefant Racing.?

The Label Your Data team has not stopped working for a day since the war with russia began. We continued annotating data for our partners, and the roll-out of FR22 finally happened in April. But before I talk about their accomplishments, I couldn’t help but mention the support the guys have been providing to Ukraine since the beginning of hostilities.

BTW, we are proud to announce that our Elefant Racing case study is ready, so go ahead and check it out!?

Elefant Racing and The War in Ukraine?

As told by the guys from Elefant Racing, they were all set to help our country since the very beginning of the unjust russian invasion of Ukraine. They were eager to do anything to stand up for our people and our land. We at Label Your Data were curious as to how our partners from Elefant managed to organize aid to Ukraine so quickly.

Thanks to the enormous commitment and enthusiasm of the students from Bayreuth, an initiative was created in just a few hours, which the Elefant Racing team ended up supporting. In less than 24 hours, a huge collection campaign was organized, uniting people from Bayreuth and northern Bavaria. They were generous enough to provide relief supplies and basic necessities like clothing to the university. All of this was promptly delivered to Ukraine.?

However, it was a bit challenging for the guys to find drivers, particularly the ones who could drive to the Polish-Ukrainian border to deliver humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The Elefant team has told us that even the former members of the team have joined the initiative, despite all the stress they experienced because of the exams. They hit the road to help Ukraine by driving three times, traveling thousands of kilometers on the ER bus. We couldn’t be more proud and tremendously grateful to see how the world is responding to the war and doing everything possible (and more) to express its support.?

The entire Label Your Data team would like to thank the Elefant Racing team for their help and support of Ukraine in these desperate times!?

More On the Status Quo: The FR22 Rollout Is Coming??

As you may recall, the manufacturing process of the monocoque was our last stop on the way to the long-awaited rollout. What are the Elefant guys up to now? Let’s see what steps were taken after the monocoque was ready, and what exactly happened at each stage of building the race car. We will also reveal the name of the future race car very soon, so stay tuned!

Once the monocoque was built, it was time to attach the wheel carriers, which were made by the VD (vehicle dynamics) team, including Johannes and Jonas. They were made of carbon fiber at the back and steel at the front to save some space in the car. A steering box was also installed. After that, the electronic system was successfully installed and configured for the future FR22 race car.

Driverless Milestones?

A wire harness was manufactured over several weeks in our electronics laboratory, the “E-Lab,” and then integrated into the driverless vehicle. In general, the process of integrating essential components for a driverless system was particularly challenging throughout all stages of race car manufacturing, as they often had to be taken into special consideration. This is also true for one of the final construction stages, the aero package that consists of composite carbon fiber. This year, the aero package is mostly based on last year’s components, although some parts have been optimized and, above all, simulated over hundreds of hours.???

The next milestone was the commissioning of four electric motors shortly before the rollout: a turning point when the Elefant team was to find out if the work of the past few weeks had been successful. We at Label Your Data are thrilled that everything went smoothly!

Now, let’s spill the beans on the race car’s name! I’ve previously mentioned a few different names that the Elefant Racing team was considering for the future FR22 race car. The final decision was made. After much deliberation, the guys decided on the name Thor. This way, the Elefant team remains true to the names of our former vehicles taken from Norse mythology, such as Odin and Loki.?

ER Is Putting the Pedal to the Metal?

What can I say, FR22 Thor, welcome aboard, and good luck in this year’s Formula Student! Our team is happy to resume its work and continue annotating data for the complex driverless system of the Elefant’s race car.?

With annotation being the main driving force behind the success of the driverless race car system, we couldn't be more proud of our German partners and our skilled team of annotators at Label Your Data. We continue to work despite the horrifying events in Ukraine, so stay tuned for more updates from Elefant Racing!