Eight groups of students from eight universities nationwide will gather for the final battle of the Digital Race, an annual technology contest organised by FPT, taking place this Wednesday at Cau Giay Stadium in Ha Noi.

The theme of this year’s contest, which has been running from November 2016 to this month, is about self-driving cars. The total value of contest prize money will be up to VND700 million (nearly US$31,000). Of this, the first prize is worth VND450 million.

The Ministry of Science and Technology is the patron for the contest, which is sponsored this year by HP and Lenovo. This year’s competition attracted more than 500 contestants from 26 universities across the country. The finale will be broadcast live on FPT Play television and the Vnexpress e-newspaper.

Self-driving cars are one of the nine pillars of the fourth industrial revolution. A number of technology giants are already rushing to develop their own models.

According to McKinsey, cars with smart connectivity and applications will grow at an average rate of 30 per cent over the coming years and will account for 25 per cent of the world’s total number of vehicles by 2020.— VNS