Students develop prototype of smartphone-driven automated vehicle

Students at the Griffith University in Australia have achieved a significant milestone on the road to developing driverless cars. Not only have these students managed to design a smartphone-driven automated vehicle, they also won recognition for it at the 2013 Queensland iAwards in Brisbane. 

Sullivan and Lennon with the prototype model

Tommi Sullivan from the Bachelor of Information Tech (Honours), Michael Lennon from the Bachelor of Engineering in Mechatronic Engineering and Yukito Tsunoda from the Bachelor of Information Technology (Advanced Honours) in Computing and Intelligent Systems comprise the team working on this project. The team is supervised by Dr Jun Jo.

The team received the Undergraduate tertiary student prize for their projects. The iAwards is Australia’s technology awards programme that recognises the contribution made by information and communications technology.

According to those working on this project, the unique quotient of their creation lies in the fact that most of the sensors are used from the mobile phones, unlike in regular unmanned vehicles. Sullivan said, “We think they chose our project for the unique idea of utilising Smartphone technology to guide and steer the car.”

The award-winning team

The team working on this project developed a small prototype model of the car and designed some of its parts using 3D printing technology. Their ultimate goal is to bring their prototype model to reality and to use it “in the public environment”. “And we hope to one day see people using their Smartphone to drive their cars in a real life situation,” says Tsunoda.

Another interesting bit of information for enthusiasts is that the team expects to have the test model on the road on August 11 at the Griffith University Open Day.

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