IIT-Bombay students prepare for Mahindra Rise challenge scheduled for July

A prototype of the Aeternal as conceptualised by Roy and teamEven as automobile companies around the world invest big bucks in simplifying and heightening the driving experience theres a parallel school of thought that appears to be steadily working towards eliminating the hands on the wheel altogether While a group of IIT Bombay students have made this an onground reality albeit in a controlled environment a Goregaon based graphic design startup seeks to take the idea beyond a lifetime with their working module for a selfdriven coffinRishabh Choudhary and Ankit Sharma fourth year B Tech students from IITB have been a part of SeDriCa initiative Self Driven Car undertaken by the Society of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the institute They have been on the project since 2014 bettering the concept that kicked off in 2011 Last year they contested the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Challenge IGVC in the US where they finished fourth having competed against 36 global teams making them the top team in AsiaAnkit Sharma and Rishabh Choudhary are currently testing a prototype of the driverless vehicle at the IITBombay campus PicShadab KhanA decade more to goArtificial Intelligence argues that humans are more prone to making errors leading to loss of life and property With optimum technology what a selfdriven car can achieve could be more efficient than its humandriven counterpart says Choudhary who along with his team is currently testing the prototype on campusIts a threefeet long twofeet wide automobile less than sixfeet in height The team is currently preparing for the Mahindra Rise challenge thats scheduled for July where theyll get to test the technology in a real electric car the Mahindra e2o It will be another 10 to 15 years before we see driverless cars on our roads A part of the technology requires that these cars ape the one in front of them Imagine the dilemma of a machine that is programmed to follow traffic rules while the car ahead of it is merrily breaking them So we need more driverless cars around for them to understand each others behaviour first before adjusting to human driven vehicles says Choudhary 21 Simply put what we are working towards is a day when you can call an Ube that drives itself to your doorstep he addsAbhishek Roy Beyond this lifeThe driverless coffin however which is still at concept stage aims at eliminating the car carrying the coffin altogether says Abhishek Roy 29 founder of Lunatic Koweits Speaking of the Aeternal which is what the coffin has been christened Roy says The concept aside from eliminating the carriers of the coffin is also about celebrating the journey of the departed So we have made provision for a holographic projection where a popup video dedicated to the departed can be played Its another kind of eulogy if you will The coffin is made of transparent polymer and holds a bedThe structure is placed on a chassis that runs on memucan wheels that turn 360degrees with the help of laser sensors So the coffin itself becomes the vehicle The idea originated from a discussion Roy had with Canadian inventor Charles Bombadier with whom he works closely At that time we were talking of a selfdriven hearse and then we thought why not try and make a selfdriven coffin he says Right now they are looking at funding from someone who sees genuine application for itThe whole point of design Roy explains is to trim an idea to bare minimum The idea for the future is that humans shouldnt be used for physical labour We are smart and should be employed in more advanced pursuits