Three student teams from the Faculty of Automation and Computers of the ‘Gheorghe Asachi’ Technical University of Iasi (TUIASI) will take part from May 6 to 8 in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) stage of the international NXP Cup competition, hosted at NXP’s headquarters in Milan, Italy.
The NXP Cup is one of the most prestigious international contests in the field of embedded systems and autonomous vehicles.
‘The challenge is concrete and demanding: students must design, build and program a vehicle capable of autonomously navigating a complex route, using sensors, control algorithms and innovative software solutions. There are no standard formulas – each team builds its own approach, from hardware to code,’ TUIASI representatives said.
Qualification for the Milan stage follows the strong results obtained at the Romanian regional round, held on April 4 in Bucharest. The event brought together 46 teams from major university centres across the country – Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara, Craiova, Sibiu and Iasi – where TUIASI students proved a high technical level.
Of the ten teams that will represent Romania in the EMEA final, three come from the Iasi Faculty of Automation and Computers, ranking 3rd, 6th and 7th nationally.
TUIASI will be represented in Milan by the Bucsa team (3rd place nationally), composed of Pestrisor Eduard Gabriel, Mihaiescu Vlad Mihai and Mihalache Mihai; the E404 team (6th place), made up of Loghin Elisei (3rd year); and the Bandits team (7th place), composed of Colibaba Rares-Andrei (4th year), Roman Emilia-Cristina (4th year) and Moscalu Ionela-Georgiana (2nd year).
The journey to Milan began in October 2025, when interest among students surged – 74 young people initially enrolled in the training program. Under the guidance of mentors Tudor-Alexandru Popovici, Stefan-Daniel Achirei, Tiberius Dumitriu and PhD candidate Andrei Iancu, the students worked intensively to optimise the performance of their autonomous vehicles.
‘Participating in the EMEA stage offers students the opportunity to interact with international industry experts and compete with the best universities in the region. This success reconfirms the status of the Faculty of Automation and Computers in Iasi as a pole for training future specialists in engineering and technology, prepared to perform on the international stage,’ TUIASI representatives added. AGERPRES (RO – writing by: Daniela Malache; EN – writing by: Simona Klodnischi)
