Kenna Edwards goes bold when others defer, takes chances when others play it safe -- or don’t play at all.
That approach has boosted the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering computer science major into a prominent role with Code19 Racing as part of the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League that pushes the boundaries of AI possibilities. It’s also helped get her an internship with Chip Ganassi Racing, one of the world’s elite racing organizations, as part of the inaugural class of Women in Motorsports Internship Powered by PNC Bank; and land a job at General Motors’ motorsports division.
Not bad for someone still a couple of months away from graduation.
As one job performance review said -- “Kenna is very bold, and we love that about her.”
“That’s been my greatest blessing and curse,” Edwards says. “I’m not a person who beats around the bush. I don’t sugarcoat things. When I want something, I will make it happen.”
As Code19’s assistant race engineer for controls and perception, Edwards will travel to Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates, in late April as part of Code19’s race entry at the iconic Yas Marina Circuit, the 5.3-mile corkscrew-layout venue famous for hosting the Formula One season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Code19 is the only U.S. representative in the 10-team field. Five members are women, including fellow Luddy student Samantha Woodward, an Intelligent Systems Engineering major.
“This diverse team has so many experienced engineers from so many fields,” Woodward says.
“We’re intentional about creating a diverse engineering talent pipeline, says Lawrence Walter, team principle for Code19 Racing. “Our driver development program starts with The Boys and Girls Club of Southeast Michigan (Detroit), continues with our college interns, and ultimately feeds our pro driver team and industry. Samantha and Kenna are perfect examples of the student outcomes we want to support.”
Edwards and Woodward represent the best of Luddy students, says Lantao Liu, associate professor of Intelligent Systems Engineering and director of the Vehicle Autonomy and Intelligence Lab. Woodward has been mentored by Ph.D. student and VAIL researcher Paul Coen. Edwards has worked with Abe Leininger, a former VAIL research assistant.
Despite some apprehension, Edwards can’t wait for the race.
“Going to Abu Dhabi is scary for me. I’ve never flown by myself for more than a couple of hours, but it’s a big opportunity. You have to overcome your fear and do it anyway. That’s the only way you’ll evolve.”
Edwards’ evolutionary role takes advantage of her extensive racing background -- years of go-kart racing success, a decade of Yas Marina race simulation experience, plus her Ganassi Racing opportunity. Add a tech background that allows her to review and refine algorithms that design race lines for various racing scenarios, and she’s well positioned to provide racing knowledge and insight other team members lack.
“Yas Marina is my favorite track,” she says. “I’ve never physically been there, but I have raced hundreds of (simulated) laps there. I know it like the back of my hand.
“We have a lot of intelligent and talented people in robotics, light detection and ranging (lidar), radar perception and coding. I have the racing background and have worked in the tech sphere in the racing industry.
“My job is to be a liaison and guiding voice in how to solve issues in a racing sphere. There are unique challenges in the race industry that other industries don’t have.”
Edwards embraces those challenges, and so much more.
“If something seems scary,” she says, “you should probably do it. That’s where you’ll learn.”
That attitude, combined with Edwards’s real-world racing knowledge, were invaluable for VAIL’s Simulation team, Liu says.
“She has a practical understanding of techniques used by professional racers, which helped the team improve AI driver performance. She gained practical experience working on different components of autonomous systems and robustly testing each in simulation.”
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Woodward is in full-bore overcoming-challenges mode. As an assistant race engineer working on opposing teams’ race-line predictions, she gets plenty of them.
A Formula One fan fascinated by AI possibilities – “writing software that can mimic one of the most complex systems in the world, the brain, is so fascinating to me” -- Woodward began working with Luddy’s Code19 project last fall as part of the VAIL perception team under Coen that focuses on cameras and radars in autonomous vehicles.
“I wanted to get real-world experience with machine learning and object detection with camera, lidar and radar,” she says.
For the upcoming race, Woodward labels hundreds of racetrack and race car images in order to test the team’s model. She will soon start working on You Only Look Once version 8 (YOLOV8), a cutting-edge computer vision model that combines speed, accuracy and versatility for multiple vision AI tasks, with object detection.
Woodward will go to Abu Dhabi over spring break to help with onsite testing.
“I’m so appreciative of the opportunities Luddy provides me,” she says. “I’m making great connections. I can’t believe I have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I can’t wait to see where this takes me.”
Liu says Woodward has helped get the perception stack in VAIL’s autonomous car working in a simulation environment.
“She has been working to label many images of both racing vehicles and road tracks to enable our processing chain to see and recognize othervehicles,” Liu says. “She has also started learning to use some of the various computer vision models we are using such as YOLOv8 and Fast Segment Anything (Fast-SAM). Luddy has provided her with a great opportunityto work hands-on with the software that will be used in the upcoming (autonomous racing) competition.”
Woodward recently received a robotics and AI engineering internship offer with General Dynamics Land Systems, a Michigan-based manufacture of military vehicles such as tanks and lighter armored fighting vehicles.
She says the work she’s doing for Code19 directly applies to company needs.
“I bet I wouldn’t have received this offer if I didn’t have this opportunity with Code19.”
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Edwards’ Abu Dhabi scenario started last fall by seeing a Code19 promotion on a Luddy School TV on the way to class. Edwards had never heard of Code19 (which promotes itself as the world’s first autonomous racing franchise), but was intrigued by the racing concept. She contacted Code19 officials and expressed interest -- and skepticism.
“I told them what they’re trying to do was a little bit nuts, that I didn’t know if I believed it was possible,” Edwards says. “They said, ‘we appreciate your perspective, and we’d love to have you on our team to make it possible.’”
By January, Edwards was a Code19 intern set to work at the April 27 race. She will be in Abu Dhabi from April 21-31.
“I am extremely excited. I’ve never been to the Middle East. I’ve been dreaming of going to Abu Dhabi since middle school. I’ve been a Formula One fan my entire life and Yas Marina Circuit is the end-of-the-season race for Formula One every year. It’s the track you want to go to. It’s so unique with so many challenges other tracks don’t have.
“I thought I would go as a fan. To go there as a member of a race team is so beyond what little Kenna would have dreamt of.”
Teams will race Japanese Super-Formula cars with a Dallara SF23 chassis that can reach speeds between 180 and 190 mph. Edwards says the car’s new air dynamic elements makes it easier to pass.
Because this is the league’s first year, competition rules will firm up after on-track testing sessions later this month. The race-on format for April 27 is expected to include time trials, attack-and-defend scenarios, and multi-car races.
“We’ve been testing in a simulation environment created by Autonoma Labs at Monza, Italy, and the Yas Marina Circuit,” Walter said. “The real challenge starts in a couple of weeks when the teams make the simulation-to-reality jump. Everyone will know where they stand.”
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Edwards is set to begin working in a software development position for GM Motorsports in mid-July. It follows last summer’s telecommunication internship at GM.
Edwards says the Code19 project is far more than just a unique way to race. It can lead to innovations in road-car transportation and the trucking industry. Autonomous trucks could help solve the nation-wide truck-driver shortage that has adversely affected the supply chain in multiple industries.
“This can also lead to mobility machines for people with disabilities,” she says. “It can help people be more independent. Racing is not the end all, be all with this knowledge.”