My proposal to acquire an autonomous plug-in hybrid vehicle has been awarded. The project title is “MRI: Acquisition of Autonomous Plug-In Hybrid Vehicle Platform for Multidisciplinary Research and Education at the University of Michigan-Dearborn“ (Award #2214830). The project duration is from Sep 1, 2022, to Aug 31, 2025. The total award amount is $244,610.
The project overview is as follows.
This proposal is to acquire an Autonomous Plug-In HYbrid Vehicle research platform (APIHYV) to advance fundamental science and engineering research and education activities by multidisciplinary faculty at the University of Michigan-Dearborn (UM-D). The proposed platform will be crucial research instrumentation to significantly enhance collaborative and interdisciplinary research and education at UM-D in several research activities, including embodied cognitive vehicle, in-vehicular network security, energy consumption, environmental perception, cybersecurity, and driver behavior analyses in electric and advanced mobilities. The instrument will also substantially improve undergraduate and graduate research training in various engineering programs such as electrical, computer, robotics, mechanical, and industrial engineering departments at UM-D located in the Metro Detroit area, in which the General Motors (GM), Ford Motor Company, and Chrysler are headquartered. The proposed instrumentation, the APIHYV consists of (i) a Chrysler Pacifica Plug-in Hybrid, (ii) Drive-By-Wire (DBW) systems, and (iii) a sensor suite (LIDARs, radar, RGB cameras, and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)). The Drive-By-Wire kits with steer, brake, throttle, and shift-by-wire controller modules can programmatically and electronically control the vehicle’s steering, throttle, and brake without the addition of mechanical components. Much research has been done on automotive, robotics, cybersecurity, energy systems, human-vehicle interface at UM-D. Yet, they have not been able to conduct collaborative research in a realistic environment with a full-scale programmable vehicle. Each research group has to work in a simulated or simplified environment so that the proposed methods/algorithms were not be able to be fully validated. The project team proposes ten transformative research topics to be enabled by the request instrumentation. The autonomous plug-in hybrid vehicle research platform requested will substantially improve UM-D’s current capabilities with proposed research activities.