Autonomous vehicles will change how the world moves. The hardest problems in self-driving aren't just perception or control. They're about safety, equity, and real-world consequences.
130+
students
6th
consecutive win
4 of 5
award categories
We built a self-driving car from scratch. Edinburgh University Formula Student is over 130 students from 11 different uni schools designing, building, and racing autonomous cars. I joined the Driverless sub-team and worked on reinforcement learning for global path optimisation. Basically: teaching the car to find the fastest racing line using ML instead of hand-tuned heuristics.
Presenting on data-driven models at Formula Student
Card games in the Silverstone garage next to the car
Silverstone
EUFS won Formula Student UK at Silverstone in 2023. Sixth consecutive year. We took 4 of 5 award categories: Skidpad, Sprint, Trackdrive, and Overall Dynamic Events. Watching a car you helped build drive itself around Silverstone is pretty cool.
Winning at Formula Student UK — Matthew Whyte, Grace Risby, and me
Beyond the Track
As part of the executive committee for 2023/24, I co-presented on the broader implications of autonomous vehicles: racial bias in AV algorithms, Japan's readiness for SAE Level 4, and a business case for autonomous buses addressing transport poverty (which won its category at Formula Student).
Formula Student taught me that the hardest engineering problems aren't just technical. Software meets hardware meets real-world consequences. That stuck with me.