NYU Self Drive 2020-2021

Welcome to NYU Self Drive! Based at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, we are a multidisciplinary, student-lead research team focused on pursuing development and innovation in the artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicle spaces. Despite our humble beginnings in 2016, being founded by only two masters degree students and our faculty advisors, by Spring 2020 we have grown to team of more than 50 students. Through competition-based learning encompassing aspects of mechatronics, computer engineering, and software engineering, the team seeks to provide a platform for members to familiarize themselves with industry-leading software and hardware to maximize experiential learning beyond the classroom.

At our first major competition in June 2018, we came in third place for our category. We were able to transform a 2010 low-speed golf cart into a fully functioning self-driving vehicle (affectionately named Little Beetle) in two years. The vehicle's existing control systems were redesigned and re-engineered to allow the team to control the car, while novel intelligent algorithms allowed for a continuous and autonomous increase in response times. Individual power supply units, custom microcontrollers, microprocessors, and chips have all been developed in-house by our team to build Little Beetle. This was done in the most ergonomic way possible with the use of the existing car platforms while allowing mechanical leads to implement newer and more effective braking and steering technology. One year after attending the competition, we faced challenges with the natural deterioration of the car, precluding us from further use. In lieu of this original design, we developed Mini, a children's ride-on car modified for autonomous capabilities. This has bee the focus of our project for the past year.

Currently, we have three major subteams: Hardware, Software, and Operations (newly added in Spring 2019). Our passionate hardware and software teams focus on developing innovative technologies to better our existing vehicle and future iterations while operations team focuses on digital marketing, sponsorship/public relations, and business management. Our team has been working on constant personal and professional growth. In prideful recognition of our work, we were even featured on Con Edison's Instagram for our participation in Con Edison's Engineers Week.

Here is our timeline for this semester:

We are working on ways to continue research and innovation while having to operate remotely in these unusual times. We have decided to develop our own virtual environment to facilitate an internal self-driving car competition. In this competition, multiple teams will compete to develop and train the most efficient AI to traverse randomly-generated race tracks. We have high aspirations for this project; we hope to use it as a template for future competitions with external groups/universities in order to garner interest in our exciting industry.

Our next task is to raise $3,000 to cover the expenses of this undertaking and the constant iteration of our project. We appreciate anything you are able to contribute.

Thank you for your consideration!

NYU Self Drive

If you would like to contribute to our team beyond donation, in the form of a sponsorship or partnership with NYU Self Drive, please email Kyra-Lee Harry at nyuselfdrive@nyu.edu.

Follow us on Social Media: 

Instagram: @nyuselfdrive

LinkedIn: /nyu-self-drive