TEAM 310: AUTONOMOUS NAVIGATION

The automobile is one of the great modern marvels which propels us into the future by shortening commute times for everyday necessities such as heading to work, school, or running errands around town. Sadly, accidents happen, and can sometimes be fatal. Traffic accidents usually occur because there was a person at fault, someone who didn’t obey the traffic laws and caused a collision. Human error is the leading cause of traffic accidents and our goal in this project is to create a vehicle that can drive itself, eliminating the possibility for human error.

In our project, we are implementing several algorithms (computer instructions) to safely drive a car without the need of human input. We are not creating a vehicle, instead we are testing the algorithms using Quanser’s Q-car, a programmable scaled down car about the size of a RC car, which is equipped with four cameras and a lidar sensor on top. Our first step is to create a virtual environment where we can test our algorithms.

The next step is then uploading the control algorithms to the Q-car to test in real life. The Q-car should be able to drive on a designed track and follow all roadway laws while avoiding obstacles such as vehicles, pedestrians, and other roadway hazards. If the car can complete the track safely and efficiently without any user-assistance then we will consider the project a success