March 4, 2015

Dusseldorf, March 04, 2015 — Renesas Electronics Europe announces the winners of its MCU Car Rally competition for university students, which was held on February 26 at embedded world 2015 in Nuremberg, Germany. Seventeen teams comprising some 100 students from all over Europe participated in the event by developing a functioning model rally car based on sensors and other electronic components from Renesas.

First past the post with a time of 3.54.6 minutes for five full laps was the model built by the West Coast Racers team from Fachhochschule Westküste in the very northern part of Germany. Second was the TOR CAMVI team from the Carlos III University in Madrid, whose model completed five laps in 3.57.4 minutes. The UoG Car Team 2 from England’s University of Gloucestershire came in third with a time of 4.52.1 minutes. Prizes for the winners included tickets for a driver training course at well-known racing circuits as well as iPad Minis and Amazon vouchers.

Along with good communication and teamwork skills, the Renesas MCU Car Rally sharpened the students’ knowledge of electrical circuitry and electronic control systems as well as the development and tuning of the drive and control software. Most of the students are already in their second or third years at college and are likely to be entering the industry within the next year or two. As such, the Renesas MCU Car Rally gave them useful experience in the development of a functioning product and the project also counted towards their degree work.

Working with its Platinum Alliance Partner AND Technology, Renesas staff welcomed the students on arrival and provided them with technical and setup support where necessary. The racing slots were decided by lottery during a hearty dinner at a traditional Nuremberg bratwurst restaurant, which helped the participants relax and get to know each other. MCU Car Rally experts from Renesas’ headquarters in Japan were present to wish the students luck and impart some useful technical tips.

“Our first MCU Car Rally event was a great success and we had fantastic feedback from the participants,” comments Andy Harding, Senior Manager, Industrial & Communications Business Group, Renesas Electronics Europe. “We’ll soon be sending out invitations to European students to participate in next year’s Renesas MCU Car Rally at embedded world, which we’re hoping will be even bigger and more successful than this year’s!”

Video link: http://bit.ly/1w2BHED

Any Universities interested in participating in a 2016 event can register their interest at www.mcurally.com or on the dedicated MCU Car Rally page.

About Renesas Electronics Europe

Renesas delivers trusted embedded design innovation with complete semiconductor solutions that enable billions of connected, intelligent devices to enhance the way people work and live – securely and safely. As the number one global supplier of microcontrollers, and a leader in A&P and SoC products, Renesas provides the expertise, quality, and comprehensive solutions for a broad range of Automotive, Industrial, Home Electronics (HE), Office Automation (OA) and Information Communication Technology (ICT) applications to help shape a limitless future.

Renesas Electronics Corporation was established in 2010 and is headquartered in Japan.With over 800 hardware and software alliance partners worldwide, it has the industry’s largest local support network. Renesas Electronics’ European structure is comprised of three business units – the Automotive, the Broad-based and the Industrial Solution Business Unit.

Further information about Renesas Electronics Europe is available at www.renesas.com

Renesas Electronics Europe is also on social media at http://twitter.com/Renesas_Europe, http://facebook.com/RenesasEurope and http://youtube.com/RenesasPresents.


The content in the press release, including, but not limited to, product prices and specifications, is based on the information as of the date indicated on the document, but may be subject to change without prior notice.

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