We Are The Penn State Advanced Vehicle Team

Penn State AVT members pose for a team picture in front of the garage (Spring 2023)

Our team’s mission is to facilitate an unparalleled learning experience for undergraduate and graduate students across a variety of academic disciplines by developing algorithms for autonomous driving, re-engineering electric vehicles to increase driving range, and improving vehicle architecture while maintaining consumer demand.

Since 1988, the Penn State Advanced Vehicle Team has participated in the Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions series, striving to build a fuel-efficient vehicle while maintaining consumer acceptability, performance, and safety.

The Penn State Advanced Vehicle Team is managed almost entirely by elected student leaders who collectively oversee approximately sixty members, primarily consisting of undergraduate students enrolled in the associated engineering program, a senior design course or student volunteers. The team is comprised of a variety of students pursuing various academic disciplines across multiple fields of engineering, business, and communications. Each team member will be segmented into sub-departments that tackle autonomous vehicle driving and improve mechanical and electrical systems.

A Chevrolet Camaro Worked on by the Team for the EcoCar 3 Competition

About Advanced Vehicle Team Competitions

Since 1988, the United State Department of Energy and numerous North American automotive leaders have sponsored Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions (AVTC) in an effort to actively engage university students with automotive experience through the hands-on application of concepts learned in university curriculum combined with the latest automotive technologies. The Pennsylvania State University Advanced Vehicle Team (PSU AVT) competed against other North American universities in a number of AVTC competitions, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and managed under the Argonne National Laboratory.

Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions actively engage university students in hands-on experience working with cutting-edge automotive technologies. Through annual competition deliverables and testing, AVTC previously challenged students to reduce energy consumption without altering the consumer appeal of these vehicles. Today AVTC is focussing on developing autonomous electric vehicles, pushing students to build compliant autonomous vehicles while improving the overall driving efficiency of the car. These competitions equipped university students with unparalleled automotive experience through advanced technologies while fostering the growth of management and leadership expertise in a vehicle development process mirroring leading automotive industries.