As a gap year between my bachelor's and master's I was a full-time software engineer at Eco-Runner, an interdisciplinary student team from TU Delft. Together we built the world's most efficient hydrogen-powered city car in order to promote a sustainable future. Our goal for the year was to win the Shell Eco-Marathon, a race where you need to drive a certain distance in a given time while using as little fuel as possible. Unfortunately, the Shell Eco-Marathon was cancelled due to COVID-19. However, together with the other Dutch teams we organised our own race, the Hydrogen Efficiency Challenge 2021, and I can proudly say that we beat the other teams by a landslide!

Being the sole software engineer on the team I had the freedom to completely rethink our software inside and outside the car. Throughout the year I worked on the following projects:

• Simulation: I simulated our car in Python, using data from other engineering departments to ensure that the simulation resembled our car as closely as possible, including parameters like wind conditions.
• Track modelling: as it was long uncertain on which track we would be racing due to COVID-19 restrictions, we needed a flexible way to model different tracks to run our simulations on. To make this possible, I created a React app that lets you draw the track on an interactive map and then approximates track segments using Bezier curves.
• Data analysis: we streamed live sensor data from the car to a server and I made a React app to visualise this data, both live and from previous test runs.
• Strategy: to optimise our race strategy, I wrote a Python program to run on an HPC cluster that would simulate different strategies and find the best one using a genetic algorithm.
• Embedded systems: I programmed Teensy microcontrollers inside the car with PlatformIO and C++, enabling the driver to actually operate the car and showing relevant data on the steering wheel screen.
• Smart cruise control: to execute our strategy I implemented a smart cruise control system that would automatically control the speed of the car using a PID controller.

These contributions were awarded with the Data & Telemetry Award by Shell, and our use of data to achieve maximum fuel efficiency was described by the judges as "outstanding, all-encompassing, and very advanced."

As the cherry on top, we ended the year by setting the world record for driving the largest distance on a single tank of hydrogen!