(Salesian Polytechnic, Machida Tokyo) – In the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of the Salesian Polytechnic College of Technology, efforts for the development of a new “autonomous driving cart” started last year. Using research in the Department of Electrical Engineering and technology cultivated in the solar car project, faculty members and students have been working together to develop an autonomous driving cart with an automatic driving level of 3.
Driving automation levels are divided into 0-5, and autonomous driving refers to levels 3, 4, and 5. In a Level 3 car, under certain conditions, the driver can tstop using the steering wheel and let the system do the driving.
With the approval of the Road Traffic Act, “level 3” cars can drive autonomously under certain conditions on highways and on public roads. As of 2021 the self-driving cart continues its development and is currently in the prototyping 1.0 phase, testing out automatic stop and automatic steering technologies using carts and scale models. The College has released two videos showing the development of the project, check them out below.
Introducing the Self-driving Cart Project, Oct 25, 2020
Self-driving Cart Project prototyping 1.0, Apr 22, 2021