The Goodwood Festival of Speed automotive racing event celebrates its 25th birthday this year. Siemens arrived there with an unusual gift: a self-driving car based on a Ford Mustang issued in 1965.
The “pony car” will participate in a hill climb race piloted by an autonomous system jointly developed by Siemens and Cranfield University researchers.
To make the vehicle steerable by a machine AI, the engineer team had to replace certain suspension components and re-implement steering from scratch. They also built a detailed topological 3D map of the track for better car positioning accuracy.
The 53-year-old Ford Mustang isn’t the only fully autonomous vehicle to take part in the tournament. Another manufacturer, Roborace, will enter the competition with a self-driving vehicle that uses panoramic view cameras, sensors, radars, lasers and GPS navigation for on-track orientation and pathfinding.
Photo: eveningexpress.co.uk