Autonomous vehicle competition puts experiential learning on display

We're at George Mason University and we're participating in the RTX Autonomous Vehicle Competition. This year it's a ground vehicle and an aerial vehicle and so they have to communicate with each other without using GPS and basically take off. The aerial vehicle has to take off and then land back on the ground vehicle once the ground vehicle finds a target while avoiding obstacles as well. I wanted to be part of this project because I wanted to join a design team on campus and this one was one that I felt was unique as they worked on drones and they worked on ground vehicles. And so I was able to work with like multiple vehicles at once and see how those vehicles communicate with each other, do certain things together and work autonomously. Everyone has a different skill set. So some people are better at other things than I would be and then learning from them. And I've just gotten like a lot of hands-on experience with things I never have before. like actually doing robotics, wiring things, like everything. This is design the system and then implement it and show that it can do what you designed it to do. That's really where it gets fun, like that's where you get to use the engineering skills that you've learned at Virginia Tech and use your problem-solving skills. I've definitely enjoyed this experience. There's been a lot of work. And we're still working at it, but you know, I feel like it's definitely worth it and it's very satisfying in the end.

research 1:42 Autonomous vehicle competition puts experiential learning on display

By:

Craig Newcomb

22 May 2026 154

Virginia Tech's autonomous vehicle team traveled to George Mason University for the East Coast RTX Autonomous Vehicle Competition. Part of the team are students in the RTX Fellowship Program through the Hume Center and some will receive class participation credit through the Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering.