Young Tech talents win Land Rover coding challenge

More than 150 talented future software engineers from schools across the UK competed in the Land Rover 4x4 in Schools Technology Challenge national finals.

The skilled young engineers, aged 11-19, used computer coding to programme miniature remote-controlled four-wheel-drive vehicles they designed and built for a two-day competition at the British Motor Museum in Warwickshire. In the challenge, teams operate as small businesses and manage all stages of their 4x4 product cycle which helps them develop key business behaviours such as critical thinking and problem solving. In one challenge their vehicles negotiated a demanding course that wound its way over and through Land Rover Discovery SUVs.

The engineering contest, which supports curriculum learning, included a coding challenge to encourage engagement with STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths subjects and inspire the next generation of engineers to design and develop future autonomous, connected, electric and shared vehicles. The coding task required them to write code to enable an autonomous car to complete the track in the fastest time with no human intervention.