Now why would you do THAT?

Please Note:    Unlike most of my projects which are fully complete before they are published, this project is as much a build diary as anything else.  Whilst I am attempting to clearly document the processes, this is not a step-by-step guide, and later articles may well contradict earlier instructions. If you decide you want to duplicate my build, please read through all the relevant articles before you start. We have a lot of work to do in pretty short space of time now, with new competitive opportunities in the very near future. To be honest, the line detection has simply not been good enough, and this is leading to some of the poor performance I have been experiencing with the car.  Whilst it really does work, it is not accurate enough.  There are a couple of issues here which need to be dealt with: The core processor is just not powerful enough; and The optics aren't good enough Processing As I noted in my "Next Iteration" article I am looki...

Please Note:   Unlike most of my projects which are fully complete before they are published, this project is as much a build diary as anything else.  Whilst I am attempting to clearly document the processes, this is not a step-by-step guide, and later articles may well contradict earlier instructions. If you decide you want to duplicate my build, please read through all the relevant articles before you start. Things have been a little quiet on the self-driving front for the last month, but the project is still moving ahead. Mechanical Issues I guess it had to happen.  Prolonged running of this old car has taken it's toll on the drivetrain and the gearbox has stripped.  As you can imagine, this makes it rather hard to move anywhere.  It's not the end of the world, because these units are pretty common.  I am going to try and get a pair of them and convert the car to 2 wheel drive into the bargain.  All the cutouts are already there, so in...

Please Note:   Unlike most of my projects which are fully complete before they are published, this project is as much a build diary as anything else.  Whilst I am attempting to clearly document the processes, this is not a step-by-step guide, and later articles may well contradict earlier instructions. If you decide you want to duplicate my build, please read through all the relevant articles before you start. Well, we made it... The car is a very long way from being finished, but it's official debut at Sydney's Darling Harbour coincided with Amazon Web Services AWS Summit for 2018 so I had to take advantage of that as well. This is a collection of photos from the big night out before we go back to the hard work again.  

Waiting for "Go" Please Note:   Unlike most of my projects which are fully complete before they are published, this project is as much a build diary as anything else.  Whilst I am attempting to clearly document the processes, this is not a step-by-step guide, and later articles may well contradict earlier instructions. If you decide you want to duplicate my build, please read through all the relevant articles before you start. The car is finally built, and it is sitting out on the pathway ready to show the world what you can do.  So of course it's going to work right.  Isn't it? I don't really know how to break this to you but chances are it won't work right the first time.  This is not because you are no good at making things or the software could never have worked, it is because there are so many variables which you could not have dealt with during the build.  Don't give up hope because the platform will work for you eventually. ...

Please Note:   Unlike most of my projects which are fully complete before they are published, this project is as much a build diary as anything else.  Whilst I am attempting to clearly document the processes, this is not a step-by-step guide, and later articles may well contradict earlier instructions. If you decide you want to duplicate my build, please read through all the relevant articles before you start. This post is an update to the build and testing article , rather than a brand new chapter.  Because I learned a whole load of things during early testing I think it's worth sharing at this point: New Camera Mounting I was never happy with the way that the camera was literally stuck onto the car, because it just looked, well, wrong .  In the end, I cut a slot into the bonnet (hood) just big enough to clear the camera down to the lens body.  Still not perfect because I need to mould a cover, but better than blu-tak New camera mount and an acc...

Please Note:   Unlike most of my projects which are fully complete before they are published, this project is as much a build diary as anything else.  Whilst I am attempting to clearly document the processes, this is not a step-by-step guide, and later articles may well contradict earlier instructions. If you decide you want to duplicate my build, please read through all the relevant articles before you start. The theory is done.  How does it all come together?  If you have been reading from the beginning you will see that lots of details have changed as the project has progressed.  More often than not this was because either something didn't work out as expected or I figured a better way of doing things. One thing which may surprise you is just how much wiring there actually is.  To make the process less frightening, I will break it down into tasks. Power Distribution I noted earlier that the car has two distinct battery supplies. ...

Please Note:   Unlike most of my projects which are fully complete before they are published, this project is as much a build diary as anything else.  Whilst I am attempting to clearly document the processes, this is not a step-by-step guide, and later articles may well contradict earlier instructions. If you decide you want to duplicate my build, please read through all the relevant articles before you start. Until now this project has dealt with the mechanical and electrical components.  I have been putting off the software for a while, because many of the ideas are still forming in my mind.  But with everything else having reached a functional state, it is time to consider the overall software environment. Software Goals The overall goal is very simple.  To control the steering and acceleration of the car in such a way that it follow the road in front of it without impacting with other objects. Vision I think most will agree this is the most ex...