Case Study:
Creating Safer Roads with Autonomous Vehicles

The Future of Transportation Depends on Utilizing Imaging Systems for Smart and Safe Autonomous Vehicles

tackling the transportation
challenges of tomorrow

Victor Tango AutoDrive is a team of students from Virginia Tech who is competing against other universities to design and build a fully autonomous vehicle. The team utilizes imaging systems, lidar, and processing algorithms to ensure that its vehicle can stay within lane lines, avoid pedestrians and other obstacles, and altogether safely navigate in an urban setting. Edmund Optics^® (EO) is proud to sponsor Victor Tango AutoDrive and provide imaging lenses, cameras, and engineering support to help tackle the transportation challenges of tomorrow.

Intel estimates that autonomous vehicles will save at least 585,000 lives between 2035 and 2050.¹

Promise of Autonomous Vehicles

An estimated 1.25 million people are killed in traffic-related accidents every year, and between 20 and 50 million people are seriously injured.² The adoption of autonomous vehicles promises to prevent accidents and reckless driving, thus making roads safer and saving lives. Self-driving cars are also expected to reduce traffic congestion and improve fuel efficiency by preventing accidents and optimizing acceleration and braking. Intel predicts that the autonomous vehicle industry will grow to $800 billion in 2035 and to $7 trillion in 2050.¹

Figure 1: The adoption of autonomous vehicles has the potential to eliminate the majority of traffic-related accidents

AutoDrive Challenge™

Victor Tango AutoDrive is part of the AutoDrive Challenge™, which tasks teams of undergraduates from eight universities with designing a fully autonomous passenger vehicle over the course of three years. Each team receives a Chevy Bolt and must autonomize it so that it can navigate in an urban setting and avoid both static and moving obstacles. The AutoDrive Challenge™ is sponsored by AE International and General Motors.

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Partnering with Edmund Optics

Edmund Optics (EO) sponsored Victor Tango AutoDrive and provided them with the products and engineering support needed to turn the Chevy Bolt into a truly autonomous vehicle. An imaging-based perception system was required to allow the vehicle to detect lane lines, other vehicles, pedestrians, and other obstacles. Victor Tango AutoDrive needed cameras with high dynamic range and fast frame rates in order to see objects in both light and dark areas and to have the ability to respond quickly to changes in the vehicle’s environment. EO’s Solutions Engineering Team worked closely with Victor Tango AutoDrive to help select the appropriate cameras and lenses. After reviewing all options, EO provided three TECHSPEC^® Imaging Lenses and corresponding Allied Vision Prosilica GT Series GigE Cameras to allow the vehicle to navigate accurately through its environment.

Edmund Optics is proud to sponsor Victor Tango AutoDrive and looks forward to seeing the team continue to push the limits of autonomous vehicle technology, paving the way for a safer future.

References

¹ “Accelerating the Future: The Economic Impact of the Emerging Passenger Economy.” Strategy Analytics, Intel Corporation, June 2017.

² “The High Toll of Traffic Injuries : Unacceptable and Preventable.” Open Knowledge Repository, World Bank Group, Dec. 2017, openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/29129.

Victor Tango

Case Study:Creating Safer Roads with Autonomous Vehicles