As engineering education has continued to improve, more colleges and universities have adopted the CDIO engineering education model for the development of course majors and project design ,which has improved the engineering skills of their students. However, there are few reports in the literature of the research and development of methods used to evaluate the levels of skills achievement in engineering. . Measurement of the effectiveness and achievement of an engineering education can be determined by a scientific evaluation using the engineering education reform. Therefore, determining the best method for guiding the evaluation of teaching techniques and exploring methods for evaluating levels of engineering ability are of very significant in understanding and implementing CDIO education and teaching reform. In our CDIO syllabus the capabilities of engineering students can be classified into four categories, basic engineering knowledge, personal ability, teamwork and engineering system capability. In this reported study, an artificial intelligent model car project was used as an example to demonstrate how these engineering capabilities are achieved during the process of principle analysis, abstract modeling, plan design, intelligent car platform construction, debugging and operation among others. Measurement standards and scoring systems were established for each stage of the practice process. The evaluation methods were operational and quantifiable throughout the entire practice process and they ultimately ensured an overall improvement in the outcome of the practice of engineering design.