École Polytechnique is more than just work - Discover what our Bachelor students have been up to.
This March, Valeo and the start-up Kuantic—which develops vehicle fleet management solutions using data from telematic boxes—partnered up to organize the Mobility Hackathon. Our students were there to take part.
One pair of students took on the challenge and won, earning themselves both a cash prize and an internship opportunity this summer within Valeo’s Data Science department. We met up with Loan Tricot and Matthias Hasler, both in their second year on the Mathematics and Computer Science track of the Bachelor Program.
Matthias (left) and Loan
“If you keep doing hackathons, you learn the winning formula and the most efficient way to get organized over 24 hours,” explains Matthias. These two are no strangers to hackathons. Such competitions enable them to apply the knowledge they gain in an academic context (such as in the Machine Learning class taught as part of the Bachelor Program) and, more importantly, give them the chance to code in total independence. “We are in complete charge of what we create and what solution we propose to the company,” adds Loan.
He says that with 24 hours to solve the challenge, it is important to be methodical: “There was a huge amount of data gathered over several months on a certain number of cars. We had to be creative in using this information.” Valeo provided all the teams with details on the condition of the vehicles, including information on their most minor faults, which led many to attempt to predict breakdowns. “When we started analyzing the data, we quickly saw that this was a trap, as we were only dealing with recent vehicles,” explains Matthias. “So, we took a different route and decided to look at geolocation, by combining the information with open source data we were able to find on traffic in Paris.” The solution they came up with was the creation of timetables to schedule deliveries and trips according to road traffic, thus reducing time spent in traffic jams.
Prize awarded to the students
Taking part in this type of event not only helps students develop their expertise in coding, it also gives them the chance to discover more esoteric subjects and hone their research skills.
Alongside their busy Bachelor curriculum, Matthias and Loan fully intend to keep entering competitions. Their next target is the TechCrunch, organized by Viva Technology and scheduled to take place in Paris on May 17 and 18. We wish them all the best of luck!
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