Design and Development of an Electric Drive-By-Wire Vehicle: The Flagship for the Intelligent Vehicle Laboratory

The Intelligent Vehicle Laboratory of Georgia Southern University is developing a self-driving vehicle. My research revolves around the design and development of an intelligent vehicle test bed. This test bed will be driven by electric motors and powered by batteries. The human driver will be capable of inputting commands through standard vehicle controls. These controls will not have mechanical connections such as throttle cables, steering column or brake cables. Instead, the driver’s inputs will be collected by sensors and the onboard computer will command the motors, steering system and brakes to actuate at the appropriate times. These control systems will possess the ability to have sensors take the place of a human driver in the future. The intelligent vehicle flagship will Use an Arduino microcontroller to collect the drivers inputs in three discrete systems: propulsion, steering and braking. The propulsion system will take the drivers inputs from the acceleration pedal. The acceleration pedal will be located and operate just as a gas pedal would in a standard vehicle. The acceleration pedal mechanical rotation will drive a potentiometer, which will then send a voltage signal to the Arduino control system. The Arduino will transfer the signal to two motor controllers that will drive two separate electric motors. Each motor will drive one wheel and provide feedback to the Arduino to ensure, which the output of the motor and the input from the driver match. Each motor also has regenerative braking that will reuse some of the energy from braking and charge the 24 volt Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) batteries. In addition to the regenerative braking there will be a brake, which will activate as an emergency brake. The steering system will be activated by a standard steering wheel, which will drive a Hall Effect sensor similar to the propulsion system’s potentiometer sends a voltage signal to the Arduino. The Arduino then will control a stepper motor and ball screw mechanism to turn the front wheels. The flagship will provide a stepping stone for the first Georgia Southern Intelligent Vehicle. The Intelligent Vehicle Laboratory was created to research the feasibility of an intelligent vehicle. Intelligent vehicle concepts are now being used in the automotive industry. Georgia Southern University’s intelligent vehicle will contribute to the field of research by integrating vehicle telemetry with the virtual world created by the external sensors