Bengaluru: Making life safe for those behind wheels

BENGALURU: Drivers these days are burdened with distractions such as mobile phones, in-car entertainment systems and complicated traffic movement. 

A budding engineer-duo in the city have come up with a device that could keep them from harm’s way. Designed by students from MVJ College of Engineering in the city the device is called Distronic Plus Car System and it enables drivers to overcome human errors, with a self-driving or driving assistance system in place.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle about their innovation, Sanatan Bhardwaj, an eighth semester computer science student, elaborated that he thought of the project when he started collecting data from his car to observe variations. 

“While we saw this project as an opportunity to get our hands dirty in the field of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence at the beginning, as it progressed, we were happy to find a solution which could save many lives on the road,” he said.

Elaborating how the system works, his classmate and co-innovator Kiran Rawat said that the sensors fitted around the vehicle would help vehicle-to-vehicle communication and avoid collision.

“An HD camera along with an ultrasonic sensor is used to provide necessary data to the car. Many existing algorithms like lane detection, obstacle detection and such are combined together to provide necessary control to the car,” she said.

At the same time, the innovators believe that implementing an autonomous vehicle project in India would not be possible at least for the next three years. “With most vehicles taking turns and changing lanes without prior indication, making an algorithm work is really challenging. Our project makes the most of this system though, in a more feasible manner in providing driving assistance so as to avoid untoward incidents on the road,” Sanatan added.

Supporting his views, project guide and mentor, Prof. Sindhuja K shared her belief that the same can be applied soon at least on highways.