SEPANG: Make the Future Live Malaysia is here – and Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change deputy secretary general (Environment and Climate Change) Dr Nagulendran Kangayatkarasu, together with chairman of Shell Malaysia Datuk Iain Lo flagged off cars to officially open the track for the Shell Eco-marathon Asia 2019 (Sema) at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) here, today.
Running from April 29 to May 2, Sema 2019 not only features bright students and their innovative, ultra-energy-efficient cars, but also the Shell Eco-marathon Access (Sem Access) event, which is supported by the Ministry of Higher Education, and is open to all Malaysian university students, industry partners and corporations.
“Sem Access aims to introduce Sema to various universities, offering a platform that encourages holistic partnership between the government, industry partners, corporate entities and universities to increase the quality of our students’ capabilities in competing with their cohorts from different countries,” Lo said.
Sema 2019 promises a different experience, not only for student participants, but all involved in the event, as there will also be night races. The first ever held in the 30-year history of Shell Eco-marathon, the event will see over 100 universities and high school teams from 18 countries across the Asia Pacific and the Middle East competing in a display of ultra-energy efficient innovation.
Representing Malaysia are teams from Monash University Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman and Multimedia University.
“Make the Future Live Malaysia provides a platform for innovation, collaboration and conversation towards a lower-carbon energy future.
“The introduction of the night races will give opportunity for car drivers to experience a better driving environment. It is known that the cockpit can be really hot, especially for the prototype category, and being in such a tight space, driving at night would help the drivers,” said general manager of Make the Future Live, Norman Koch.
He added that although the autonomous race was introduced in the European edition last year, this will be the first for the Asia edition.
“We can’t run away from the autonomous technology in cars. Like it or not, we are in an era when autonomous (machines) and Artificial Intelligence are part and parcel of our life.
“Although it is still very new, we created the category not only with students in mind but along with students – deciding what should be included in the judging criteria, among others,” Koch said.
The race is a test to see whose car can go farthest using the least amount of energy, and participating teams will also be able to qualify for the Drivers’ World Championship – matching the proven energy efficiency of their vehicle with speed, skill and the driver’s strategy in a race to cross the finish line first, without running out of their tiny allocation of energy.