Our IAV Jurors Report from Hockenheimring

“I originally studied mechatronics in Chemnitz, which is why I know about electric powertrains. The challenging part of judging was the deliberate follow-up to test actual knowledge and find potential gaps. It was incredibly interesting to see the different concepts. You realize how much effort goes in and what exceptional trains of thought exist.”

René Hahn — Development Engineer for reversing camera systems at IAV since 2016, judged the Electric category

“I was a part of the Highspeed Team from the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences from 2012 to 2014. We used to construct combustors. I also judge this category today. Rankings ultimately don’t matter. It’s about gaining experience and knowledge and creating a network. The competition is in fact characterized by teams helping each other – from the construction phase to the event itself. And it’s important to me to take the time after judging to give the individual teams detailed feedback. They always really appreciate it since it gives them the opportunity to make improvements.”

Martin Weber — Development Engineer at IAV since 2014, was a juror for the fourth time in a row and was himself a Formula Student participant while studying mechanical engineering

“As judges we need to determine knowledge limits in each case. Some people started this year at zero while others were far more developed. At any rate, the progress was impressive and it was clear that the students put a lot of thought into their Driverless concepts. It is terrific how these students can prepare themselves for their future professional lives through this event. They take away a lot of knowledge and experience.”

Dominik Kufer — Development Engineer at IAV for driver assist systems and autonomous driving since 2017 following the completion of his Physics studies and PhD, judged environment perception in the Driverless category