Students of Lovely Professional University (LPU) have designed and built a driverless solar powered bus.
The solar powered bus will enter commercial service later this year and the first prototype will be utilized to welcome and ferry PM Modi to the Indian Science Congress venue that will be held at LPU on 3rd of January, 2019.
For the designing of this solar power bus over 300 students from multiple fields collaborated under the guidance of LPU professors and experts. Design has been done keeping in mind Indian conditions and it will cost Rs 6 lakh.
Chancellor Ashok Mittal said, “The driverless bus is another example of LPU students being at the forefront of technology. Some other interesting projects done by LPU students include Flying Farmer, a wireless sensor device, exclusively used in farming and field survey, Formula one car and Go-karts. In fact, LPU is one of the few universities from the country that have represented India at renowned global competitions like NASA Rover Challenge and international go-kart championship. The India Science Congress will be a great exposure for our students and they are very excited about it.”
After commercial launch of the bus, it will be used at airports, housing societies, industrial complexes, and educational institutions.
The bus has a maximum speed of 30 kmph and has the capacity to seat of 10-30 people. Since the engine is battery and solar powered, the running cost is essentially negligible.
The bus uses GPS and Bluetooth for navigation and can be controlled within a radius of 10 meters.