Final-year students of MIT World Peace University from the School of Mechanical Engineering and Electronics & Telecommunications (E&T) have developed India’s first driverless, autonomous, electric four-wheeler. The students — Yash Keskar, Sudhanshu Manerikar, Saurabh Damakle, Shubhang Kulkarni, Pratyaksh Pandey and Prerna Kolipaka — demonstrated driverless, electric, four-seater, four-wheeler bolt-on autonomous vehicle. The vehicle uses state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence systems to reduce accidents and deaths caused by human errors. The car is based on Level III autonomy and uses BLDC motors, a lithium iron phosphate battery has been used to power the vehicle, said student Keskar. The steering, throttle and brakes are controlled using a number of AI and ML algorithms, involving leader cameras, microprocessors, automated action control systems and various sensors, said student Manerikar. This vehicle has power of three kilowatts and take four hours to charge, which can cover a distance of 40 kilometres. Such vehicles have numerous applications in agriculture, mining, transportation, etc., said students Damkale, Kulkarni and Pandey. MAEER’S MIT founder trustee Prof Prakash Joshi said this is the first time that a driverless autonomous vehicle has been introduced by the students during project. The Pune Smart City and Metro management officials are invited to see the vehicle and use it to serve the people of Pune, he added. Head of School of Mechanical Engineering at MIT University and project Guide Prof Dr Ganesh Kakandikar, said that such electric vehicles can be used to connect metro stations to the adjoining areas, for transportation, on airports, in golf clubs, in universities, etc.
