Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) has already changed the world in its short existence and as it continues to grow and evolve, it will only continue to change the way the world works.
Researchers and developers are in a competition to find new and unique uses for A.I. The Indiana University Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering has recently joined the race. The Luddy School recently partnered with CODE19 Racing, a new racing franchise determined to create an autonomous race car.
Lawrence Walter, the founder and principal of CODE19 Racing, is an alumni of the Luddy School which made the partnership an easy decision for him and his team. The end goal for the partnership is clear for both sides, they want to compete and win international events like the Indy Autonomous Challenge, where they are hoping to compete in a simulation race next January.
Dr. Joanna M Millunchick, the Dean of the Luddy School, observed a time trial with actual autonomous vehicles over the summer at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza outside of Milan, Italy.
Her experience showed how far away development actually is, from a successful autonomous race car.
While many of the cars were able to travel at high speeds (Around 170 MPH), they struggled to maintain control on the track and hold the connection to the servers.
Many cars failed to finish the time trial and crashes occurred but no one was injured, Dr. Millunchick explained.
The issues from the time trial showed the many challenges faced when trying to create an autonomous race car. While it may seem like a failure, it showed progress in this race to get a working autonomous race car.
Since the goal is to travel as fast as possible, the software has to be able to compute and analyze the track and make decisions in relation to speed and direction in real time as any small mistake in the software could result in a crash.
CODE19 Lawrence Walter explains how an autonomous vehicle works.
The software uses lasers to help the car make decisions on when to turn and how fast they need to make each turn while knowing when and where the car needs to speed up.
Since one tiny mistake can cause a crash that could destroy a race car, the partnership is currently using a simulator to develop their algorithms.
With a simulator, they can fail without any repercussions during testing, which makes it the perfect way to develop the software.
Once they are able to get the formulas to work on a simulator, then they can think about working on an actual car, but until then, CODE19 and Luddy will focus on the simulators, Lawrence Walter said.
The development also has military applications. The Luddy school already has a partnership with NSWC Crane to advance national security innovation.
The CODE19 partnership will also coincide with the NSWC Crane partnership, IU said during a press release about the partnership. While the initial goal is to have a functioning race car, if the software is successful it could be used to help national security in America.
The partnership is still in the initial phases and Lab Leader Dr. Lantao Liu and his team of P.H.D. students are still looking for interested students to help them develop the software.
If you are interested in joining the team, email DPUSHP@IU.EDU or ALIMAA@IU.EDU for information about how you can get involved.
