“Look, Ma! No hands! No feet! Not even a driver!” Indeed, students of the Department of Mechanical Engineering are paving the way for a future in which driverless cars are a reality.

Giving a public preview of this driverless world, a team of more than 20 mechanical engineering students recently gave successful presentations of their two autonomous vehicles at a national self-driving vehicle demonstration event. Organized by the Taipei Section of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International alongside its 23rd National Environmental Vehicle Competition for Vocational Schools and Universities, the event was held at the Automotive Research and Testing Center, Taiwan's premier automobile testing facility, on May 16.

The students' fleet consisted of an autonomous electric golf cart and a three-wheel light electric intelligent tracking vehicle that can adjust its speed to maintain a safe distance behind the vehicle ahead. Both vehicles were outfitted with an array of high-tech gear that gave them an amazing awareness of their surroundings and the ability to maneuver precisely in real-time. Selected for its low cost, adaptability, and reliability, the vehicles' core technology included real-time precision GNSS/INS (Global Navigation Satellite System/Inertial Navigation System) positioning, map-guided vehicle motion control, and environmental awareness technology that relies on laser and vision sensors.

The NTU team successfully handled the three driving scenarios presented in the SAE demonstration. The first involved an S-shaped lane delineated by traffic cones and required the autonomous vehicles to determine the proper route to avoid hitting the cones. The second scenario confronted the teams' vehicles with a broken down car and a reflective triangular warning sign blocking the lane ahead on a two-lane road. The self-driving vehicles needed to detect the car and change to the other lane. The third, using a dummy to simulate a pedestrian crossing the road, required the vehicles to detect the presence of the pedestrian and brake immediately to let the pedestrian pass.