A study on autonomous vehicle development process at Okan University

In this paper, the development process of an autonomous vehicle is explained, and the project development stages are summarized. The vehicle is designed to go on urban roads, autonomously. This project has been implemented at The Transportation Technologies and Intelligent Automotive Systems, Application and Research Center (TTIS) which is established within the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture at Okan University. The project has been planned to be developed in three stages. In the first development stage, majority of the vehicle mechatronics parts are completed and the autonomous drive is achieved by using the LIDAR. To achieve the autonomous operation, steering, throttle and braking systems are controlled electronically. The first two development stages were completed on March 2012. In the third development stage, the integration of GPS and other necessary sensors will be mounted to the vehicle and the autonomous operation of the vehicle will be accomplished under normal traffic conditions.