Driverless/Autonomous FS event?

[mech5496]

So today, this came to my attention:

The Formula Student Germany team has announced a special award for driverless concepts at last months FSG workshop at Daimler AG in Sindelfingen on 24th October. Daimler Career (https://www.facebook.com/daimlercareer/):https://www.facebook.com/daimlercareer/posts/969158459796743The concepts should contain realizable suggestions on how to integrate driverless cars into FSG or how to expand the competition towards driverless Formula Student cars. This includes proposals on how to deal with safety and environment recognition in such cars. The competition targets Formula Student teams that join FSG in Hockenheim and other student/university teams.
The intention of the award is to evaluate opportunities how to integrate autonomous driving into the Formula Student Germany event. The driverless concepts will be challenged by an international jury at the FSG event 2016 in Hockenheim. The winning concept will be awarded at the Award Ceremony 2016.
At the workshop existing and future FS teams received support and information on the FS competition. You can find all ppt-slides in the academy section.
https://www.formulastudent.de/…/20151024-daimler-sindelfin…/ (https://www.formulastudent.de/academy/workshops/20151024-daimler-sindelfingen/)
Details to award registration and further information about rules, deliverables and deadlines will be published soon.
For any enquiries please contact driverless@formulastudent.de

What do people think?

[JT A.]

A couple years ago me & a teammate were joking about making the car remote controlled. I don't think there's anything in the rulebook that says the driver has to be in the car during dynamic events, so its a pretty effective 150 lbs weight loss.

[Will M]

One thing that is interesting to consider is the vehicle size.
FSAE cars about as small as you can make them without changing the formula drastically.
But an autonomous vehicle does not really need roll over or side impact protection so it could be much smaller.

Maybe a spec chassis/motor/suspension about the size of a go kart with a mass of about 50kg.
That way the focus would be on the autonomous control and integration.
Maybe let aero be completely open.
So one of the big challenges would be achieving excellent sensor placement without worsening drag/downforce.

I don't see much benefit of taking a Formula student chassis and sticking an autonomous control system on it.
If the goal is to create a framework for students to learn about autonomous vehicles then adding chassis/drivetrain/suspension design on top of it seems like a needless complication.

Also I'd would expect a 50kg vehicle would be less dangerous than a 250kg one in a crash.

Any way just my 2 cents.
-William

[Freddie]

While autonomous vehicles might be very important for students to learn about, I wouldn't have been interested in joining that competition. The human-machine interaction is a big part for me, and the fact that you have to adjust your design for an end user and how they perceive the system.

[MCoach]

Beat you guys to it already...

In the US we have the Power Racing Series where we get together and race kids toys.
This year we got two teams to put together cars to navigate a course. It was a slow lap, but that's how everything starts.

https://vimeo.com/140661375

[Will M]

MCoach,

That is not a bad starting point, but I'd love to see it with gokarts chassis instead of Power Wheels.
I'm not sure how much enthusiasm they will get for autonomous kids toys.

Freddie,

Exactly, this new competition would not be everybody's cup of tea.
The subset of students that want to build a FSAE car and make it autonomous is probably very small.
By separating the competitions they may both do better.

-William

[apalrd]

Why does it matter if it's a go-kart or kids car?

Both are roughly the same size and an electric kids car is a lot cheaper. For safety reasons these vehicles should not be moving very fast anyway, and won't be spectacular to watch.

There are already a number of autonomous vehicle competitions which exist, I don't think FSAE is the place for another.

[MCoach]

Will,

I'm sure the exterior looks to be a kids toys, but in reality, we heavily modify these things. They are electric go karts with a Power Wheels body on them.
We used to top out over 40mph on these things before we decided to restrict the rules down to 1250w output. They used to be pretty spectacular, pulling wheelies down the straights.
https://vimeo.com/102385957

I wouldn't condone an FSAE....yet, but IGVC has a competition for something similar using way points. There is also the research group out at Stanford who ran an Audi up Pikes Peak.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFwIlflmk2Y

[DougMilliken]

20 years ago there was a pure software simulation of robot racing, RARS -- http://rars.sourceforge.net/
Here's a racing-line analysis that uses the model and source code from RARS -- http://phors.locost7.info/phors16.htm

[tromoly]

before we decided to restrict the rules down to 1250w output.

The "current" rulebook says 1440w, did Charles Guan's efforts force a re-write?

[MCoach]

Eh, you're right. It is 1440W. I think 1250W was the original restriction proposal. I don't check the rules unless I'm at the track enforcing them. :P

Charles Guan didn't build a car until after the rules rewrite for power restriction, but was a proponent of limiting power to 1hp or so. It was the car I drove (Make Magazine car), the NIMBY Ferrari, and the ex-FSAE guys from Sector 67 in Madison, WI that led us to restrict power. Something about 300lb cars with driver, powered by motors pulling 250 amps continuous at 36V on Harbor Freight handcart tires wasn't deemed....insurable risk any more.

[tromoly]

Gotcha, I've been reading the rulebook for designing my own car and the 1250w limit sounded a bit off, no worries.