Formula Student traditionally thrives on the competition for tenths of a second and the commitment of the students, who design and drive their vehicles themselves. Physical requirements have also played a certain role in the past, as those who are lighter and smaller often have an advantage when it comes to selecting drivers. However, these coveted cockpits could remain unoccupied more often in future: With the "F26", the FaSTDa team at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences says it is entering a new phase in which driving will increasingly be taken over by software.

This is set to be the case for the first time at the race in the Czech Republic in mid-July. The team will then compete with a completely self-developed autonomous system that takes control of the steering, brakes and drive. This step fundamentally changes the vehicle concept: instead of human drivers, a complex interplay of sensors, electronics and software controls the racing car.

To achieve this, the "F26" had to be rethought. In addition to significantly more extensive electrical and mechanical architecture, the system requires expertise from various disciplines. The team is therefore interdisciplinary: In addition to mechanical engineering and automotive development, students from computer science, electrical engineering, optotechnology and image processing are also involved.

The h_da team has planned a total of three competitions for the 2026 season. The season opener in the Czech Republic will be followed by a race in France at the end of August, before heading to Italy at the beginning of September, once again with drivers in the cockpit. Last year, the team was already able to record one success: At the competition in Lyon, it took second place overall out of more than 40 international teams in the "skid pad" discipline, a horizontal figure eight.

"Although the switch to electric drive was not so long ago, the team has already set itself the next challenging task with "driverless". This shows once again the great motivation and huge commitment of the students to the project," says Prof. Dr. Florian van de Loo, Faculty Advisor to the student team.

The FaSTDa team currently comprises around 40 students from 16 degree courses. Some of them have experience in technical professions or semi-professional motorsport. The project is supervised by Prof. Dr. Florian van de Loo and other lecturers from the fields of mechanical and plastics engineering as well as electrical engineering and information technology. The racing car project is financed by a number of corporate sponsors.

With around 14,000 students, Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences is one of the largest universities of applied sciences in Germany. It offers practice-oriented degree courses in STEM subjects, business and society as well as architecture, media and design. Research and teaching are strongly focused on future-oriented topics such as sustainable development, mobility and digitalization. The university also runs its own doctoral center for sustainability sciences and is the first German university to award doctorates in this field. Internationally, it is involved in the European University of Technology (EUT+) alliance.