Roshy John and his partners retrofitted a Tata Nano with sensors to make it autonomous.
From Tesla, to Google, to Apple, and more, it seems a lot of major corporations are looking to build self driving cars. And with good reason; an autonomous vehicle makes a valid driver's licence a moot point, meaning it would greatly appeal to a wide variety of consumers who can't drive. So it's quite amazing that , despite all the money behind the research being conducted by the large companies involved, the most innovative prototype comes from an Indian robotics enthusiast.
First spotted on YouTube by AutoEvolution, Dr Roshy John has built what is in essence a customisable autonomous car kit. While he hasn't built a car himself, he has managed the arguably even more daunting task of retrofitting a car with the hardware needed to drive itself. The smart vehicle in question? Why, the humble Tata Nano of course.
John, an employee of Tata Consultancy Services, was taking a taxi home one night when he noticed his driver dozing off at the wheel. Seeing the man was too tired to drive, John took over and drove the cab himself, which in turn got him thinking about other people who might be in the same situation, but without the ability to drive themselves. And thus, an idea was born.
While it may seem John was working on a Nano as it's the cheapest vehicle to experiment on, the choice was actually made thanks to its rear mounted engine. John needed all the empty space up front to mount the sensors and computing power he would need to have the car drive itself. He and his team even built a piloted gear shifting system, seeing as the design was originally for a manual transmission. Testing was another massive huurdle, as Indian roads are not in the same pristine state that Google and Tesla's trial tracks are.
The end result? Five years later, John and his team claim they've built a system that can be fitted to any car in under an hour's time, a huge accomplishment in the face of conglomerates that are still perfecting their own fully customised autonomous vehicles. But don't just take our word for it, check out the video below for yourself.
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 "dnaTechLaunch, self-driving car, autonomous cars, Tata Nano, robotics")
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