IJSRD - International Journal for Scientific Research & Development| Vol.

5, Issue 09, 2017 | ISSN (online): 2321-0613

Autonomous Cars using Embedded Systems & Spherical Wheels

Viken Parikh1 Krina Joshi2
1,2
Department of Computer Engineering
1,2
K. J. Somaiya College of Engineering, Mumbai, India
Abstract— This paper presents the design and experimental Embedded Systems with the help of computer vision, image
implementation of a control system for the operation of processing and Artificial Intelligence.
automated vehicles using spherical tyres.
Key words: Autonomous Cars; Embedded Systems; III. BACKGROUND WORK
Spherical Wheels Recent announcements that autonomous vehicles have safely
driven hundreds of thousands of miles and major
I. INTRODUCTION manufactures aspire to soon sell such vehicles, and optimistic
Automation is the use of machines, control systems and predictions of their benefits, have raised hopes that this
information technologies to optimize productivity in the technology will soon be widely available and solve many
production of goods and delivery of services. The correct transportation problems. However, there are good reasons to
incentive for applying automation is to increase productivity, be cautious when predicting their future role.
and/or quality beyond that possible with current human labor There is considerable uncertainty concerning
levels so as to realize economies of scale, and/or realize autonomous vehicle benefits, costs and travel impacts.
predictable quality levels. The incorrect application of Advocates claim that they will provide large benefits that
automation, which occurs most often, is an effort to eliminate offset costs, but they will require additional equipment,
or replace human labor.When the term automation came into services and maintenance costs that will probably total
existence,the most technologies were electrical, mechanical, hundreds or thousands of dollars per vehicle-year, and many
hydraulic and pneumatic. of their benefits are unproven.
Computing systems are everywhere. It’s probably Current automated vehicles can only self-drive
no surprise that millions of computing systems are built every under limited conditions: significant technical and economic
year destined for desktop computers (Personal Computers, or obstacles must be overcome before most households can rely
PC’s), workstations, mainframes and servers. What may be on them for daily travel. Operating a vehicle on public roads
surprising is that billions of computing systems are built is more complex than flying an airplane due to the frequency
every year for a very different purpose: they are embedded and proximity of interactions with often-unpredictable
within larger electronic devices, repeatedly carrying out a objects including other vehicles, pedestrians, animals,
particular function, often going completely unrecognized by buildings, trash and potholes. If they follow previous vehicle
the device’s user. Creating a precise definition of such technology deployment patterns, autonomous vehicles will
embedded computing systems, or simply embedded systems, initially be costly and imperfect.
is not an easy task. We might try the following definition: An During the 2020s and perhaps the 2030s,
embedded system is nearly any computing system other than autonomous vehicles are likely to be expensive novelties with
a desktop, laptop, or mainframe computer. That definition limited abilities, such as restrictions on the road conditions in
isn’t perfect, but it may be as close as we’ll get. We can better which they may operate. It will probably be the 2040s or
understand such systems by examining common examples 2050s before middle-income families can afford to own self-
and common characteristics. Such examination will reveal driving vehicles that safely operate in all conditions, and
major challenges facing designers of such systems. longer before used autonomous vehicles become affordable
Doing away with the conventional wheel and axle to lower-income households. A significant portion of
setup, four spherical tyres, which can swivel their tread in 360 motorists may resist such vehicles, just as some motorists
degrees to help the vehicle move in ways that today's cars prefer manual transmissions, resulting in mixed traffic that
never could. The wheels wouldn't be mechanically connected creates new roadway management problems.
to the rest of the vehicle, but instead the body of the car would Vehicle innovations tend to be implemented more
be suspended above its wheels by magnetic force. Sensors in slowly than other technological changes due to their high
the tyre could monitor road and weather conditions – and costs, slow fleet turnover and strict safety requirements.
communicate this to other nearby vehicles – in addition to Automobiles typically cost fifty times and last ten times as
keeping an eye on the quality of the rubber tread. One of the long as mobile phones and personal computers, so consumers
most impressive features is the way these spherical tyres seldom purchase new vehicles just to obtain a new
could help cars navigate in cramped spaces. Rather than being technology. Autonomous vehicles will probably have
required to undergo a series of three-part-turns and back-and- relatively costly equipment and service standards, similar to
forth shimmying to get into a tight parking space, spherical airplanes, which may discourage some users. Large increases
wheels that can move in any direction could let you just glide in new vehicle purchase and scrappage rates would be
into any available spot without changing the orientation of the required for most vehicles to be autonomous before 2050.
vehicle. Self-driving taxi costs are likely to range between
carsharing ($0.60-1.00 per mile) and human driven taxis
II. PROPOSED WORK ($2.00-3.00 per mile), depending on factors such as their
Our Concept revolves around the technologies which provide cleaning costs. This will make them a cost effective
Omnidirectional, sphere-wheeled Autonomous Car using alternative to owning lower (5,000 annual miles) vehicles.

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However, many motorists are likely to prefer owning IV. METHODOLOGY

personal vehicles for prestige and convenience sake. As a These multi-orientation tyres would provide superior
result, shared autonomous vehicles are likely to reduce manoeuvrability to today's mechanically aligned wheels,
vehicle ownership mostly in compact, multi-modal urban letting each tyre independently respond to potential hazards,
areas, and will have little effect in exurban and rural areas. such as ice on the road or sudden obstacles.
Advocates may exaggerate net benefits by ignoring new costs In theory, they could also provide a smoother ride,
and risks, offsetting behavior (the tendency of road users to enabling the car to move sideways in instances like
take additional risks when they feel safer), rebound effects overtaking or lane changes, without requiring the nose of the
(increased vehicle travel caused by faster travel or reduced vehicle to turn.
operating costs, which may increase external costs), and Sensors in the tyre could monitor road and weather
harms to people who do not to use the technology, such as conditions – and communicate this to other nearby vehicles –
reduced public transit service. Benefits are sometimes in addition to keeping an eye on the quality of the rubber
double-counted, for example, by summing increased safety, tread.
traffic speeds and facility savings, although there are trade- One of the most impressive features is the way these
offs between them. spherical tyres could help cars navigate in cramped spaces.
Transportation professionals (planners, engineers Rather than being required to undergo a series of three-part-
and policy analysts) have important roles to play in turns and back-and-forth shimmying to get into a tight
autonomous vehicle development and deployment. We can parking space, spherical wheels that can move in any
help support their development and testing, and establish direction could let you just glide into any available spot
performance standards they must meet to legally operate on without changing the orientation of the vehicle.
public roads. If such vehicles perform successfully and Provided the car can actually fit in a free spot, you
become common they may affect planning decisions such as wouldn't have to worry about any other geometry – although
the supply, design and operation of roadways, parking and that might not be a problem in the cities of tomorrow anyhow.
public transit. To be prudent, such infrastructure changes That's all well and good, but how would it actually work?
should only occur after autonomous vehicle benefits, Tyres like this would use magnetic levitation to do their
affordability and public acceptance are fully demonstrated. thing.
This may vary: autonomous vehicles may affect some In other words, the wheels wouldn't be mechanically
roadways and communities more than others. connected to the rest of the vehicle, but instead the body of
A critical question is whether autonomous vehicles the car would be suspended above its wheels by magnetic
increase or reduce total vehicle travel and associated external force.
costs. It could go either way. By increasing travel It sounds pretty sci-fi, but the same principle applies
convenience and comfort, and allowing vehicle travel by non- in maglev trains and hoverboards, so it could be doable for
drivers, they could increase total vehicle mileage, but they cars in the future too. It's an awesome idea that could make
may also facilitate car sharing, which allows households to sense someday.
reduce vehicle ownership and therefore total driving. This Following are some algorithms used in analysis of the
review suggests that they will probably increase total vehicle database:
travel unless implemented with offsetting policies such as
efficient road and parking pricing. A. Designing a Predictable Database:
Another critical issue is the degree potential benefits Building a predictable database in a bottom-up fashion and in
can be achieved when only a portion of vehicle travel is a principled manner, offers great insight into improving
autonomous. Some benefits, such as improved mobility for existing database products and can instigate a radical shift in
affluent non-drivers, may occur when autonomous vehicles the way that future databases are designed and implemented.
are uncommon and costly, but many potential benefits require 1) Cliff Guard:
that most or all vehicles on a road operate autonomously. For A Principled Framework for Applying Robust Optimization
example, it seems unlikely that traffic densities can Theory to Database Systems Cliff Guard is a practical
significantly increase, traffic lanes be narrowed, parking framework that creates robust designs that are immune to
supply be significantly reduced, or traffic signals be parameter uncertainties as much as desired. Cliff Guard is the
eliminated until most vehicle on affected roads self-drive. first attempt at applying robust optimization theory in
Operations Research to building a practical framework for
A key public policy issue is the degree that this technology solving one of the most fundamental problems in databases,
may harm people who do not use such vehicles, for example, namely finding the best physical design.
if increased traffic volumes and speeds degrade walking and 2) Approximate Query Processing
cycling conditions, conventional public transit service Scanning 1TB of data may take minutes, even when the data
declines, or human-driven vehicles are restricted. Some is spread across hundreds of machines and read in parallel.
strategies, such as platooning, may require special BlinkDB is a massively parallel, sampling-based
autonomous vehicle lanes to achieve benefits. These issues approximate query engine for running interactive queries on
will probably generate considerable debate over their merit large volumes of data.
and fairness.

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V. OBJECTIVE OF WORK  Additional testing, maintenance and repair costs for

critical components such as sensors and controls.
A. Purpose
The spherical drive system idea is unlike any other vehicle D. Working Description
that can be seen on the road today. Despite having seen 1) Theory:
spherically driven vehicles in futuristic movies such as The human approach in how the drive system will work is no
IRobot, there has not been a huge push into the realm of the different than how you would balance on a bicycle or on any
sphere. We believe that the versatility of the sphere drive can unstable surface, by getting a inertial feedback for when you
give us a whole new degree of freedom and safety that we are about to fall over and correcting accordingly. From an
have yet to discover. As a year long project class for San Jose engineering approach the problem is a standard controls
State University, we will be applying all of the engineering problem which will replace the person with
theory/concepts to transform an ambitious and out of the box accelerometers/gyros and human correction with drive
idea into a physical and marketable product. By the end of the motors. The system which this project will be modeled after
school year, the final product will have all of the right is called the inverted pendulum, which aim to keep an
hardware and software to enable it to self-balance and inherently unstable system from falling into it’s stable state
maneuver in any direction at slow speeds. Although by having almost instantaneous response to outside
balancing systems have been developed, adding another disturbances. Ball Inverted Pendulum is an inspiration for us
degree of freedom both increases complexity but also the and shows some inner workings of possible solutions to our
possibility of instantaneous response. design problem.
2) Implementation:
B. Overview
The project can be broken down into several core components
1) Levels of Autonomous Vehicles in which each member of the team will have a specific
 Level 1 – Function-specific Automation: Automation of responsibility to ensure proper vehicle operations. The list of
specific control functions, such as cruise control, lane the components can be seen below:
guidance and automated parallel parking. Drivers are a) Wheels:
fully engaged and responsible for overall vehicle control The birth of this project came from the idea of having a
(hands on the steering wheel and foot on the pedal at all vehicle that could travel in any direction, and with it necessity
times). brought about the idea of reinventing the wheel, literally. The
 Level 2 - Combined Function Automation: Automation design of the vehicle does not use conventional wheels, and
of multiple and integrated control functions, such as instead uses spheres. A spheres unique ability to both roll and
adaptive cruise control with lane centering. Drivers are spin at the same time will give the vehicle truly omni-
responsible for monitoring the roadway and are expected directional maneuverability. The challenge we will face is
to be available for control at all times, but under certain that the drive system will be in contact at various points on
conditions can disengaged from vehicle operation (hands the sphere, but the sphere itself can be under no constraints
off the steering wheel and foot off pedal simultaneously). except for multiple contact points to keep it within the vehicle
 Level 3 - Limited Self-Driving Automation: Drivers can enclosure.
cede all safety-critical functions under certain conditions b) Drive System:
and rely on the vehicle to monitor for changes in those This system is unlike any other omni-directional vehicle in
conditions that will require transition back to driver which the transmission to the wheels is done by having a
control. Drivers are not expected to constantly monitor fixed axle, the spherical nature of the wheel means that
the roadway. transmitting power for movement must be done purely with
 Level 4 - Full Self-Driving Automation: Vehicles can contact friction. There needs to be very minimal wearing
perform all driving functions and monitor roadway effect on the friction drive wheels for non-parallel directions
conditions for an entire trip, and so may operate with to create a reliable system. This method of driving the vehicle
occupants who cannot drive and without human presents many challenges and potential for great innovation
occupants. in creating a non-fixed axle transmission. In order to achieve
the desired speeds and torque from the vehicle it is likely that
C. Components of the System/ Autonomous Vehicle
either stepper motors or BLDC motors will be used for the
Equipment and Service Requirements:
drive.
 Automatic transmissions. c) Control System:
 Diverse and redundant sensors (optical, infrared, radar, The system that will be used to control the vehicle is in no
ultrasonic and laser) capable of operating in diverse means a trivial task. The principle of operation of the control
conditions (rain, snow, unpaved roads, tunnels, etc.). system is to take sensor readings from a gyro-accelerometer
 Wireless networks. Short range systems for vehicle-to- combo, and determine an appropriate response based on the
vehicle communications, and long-range systems to input from the user as well as maintaining stability. The
access to maps, software upgrades, road condition challenges posed by the control system, include an attempt to
reports, and emergency messages. balance an inherently unstable system, interfacing with
 Navigation, including GPS systems and special maps. multiple drive motors, and combining potentially noisy
 Automated controls (steering, braking, signals, etc.) sensor readings such as those from an accelerometer into
 Servers, software and power supplies with high something usable and reliable. The immediate scope of the
reliability standards. control system will be to maintain balance and

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maneuverability at low speeds, with considerations taken for which increased their total vehicle, accident, parking and
a modified high speed control. roadway costs, and the costs of providing public services
d) Power Management: such as utilities and emergency response.
The large amount of electronics onboard of the vehicle will 4) Shaha is hard-working and responsible when sober, but
mean that there will be a need to have a very intelligent and a dangerous driver when drunk. By 2015 she had
reliable way of sourcing the power as needed. The power accumulated several impaired citations and caused a few
management system, will need to store energy in a storage accidents. With conventional cars Shaha would continue
medium (likely to be LiPo Batteries), and be able to distribute driving impaired until she lost her driver's’ license or
the energy to the motors, controllers, and sensors. In addition caused a severe crash, but affordable used self-driving
to controlling the distribution of power, the system will also vehicles allow lower-income motorists like Shaha to
need to monitor itself for any potential faults, as well as ease avoid such problems.
of recharging from a high voltage source (such as 120V Impacts: Affordable used autonomous vehicles allow
mains). The power management system is the heart of this Shaha to avoid impaired driving, accidents and revoked
project and will need to be built and sized for the rest of the driving privileges, which reduces crash risks but
systems on the vehicle. increases his vehicle ownership and travel, and external
e) Frame and Body design: costs compared with what would otherwise occur.
While the vehicle uses a very unique drive system, it is still
in other aspects a motorbike. To provide unparalleled VII. RESULT
versatility for our application we will be designing an entirely Limited automation (Steering, braking and lane guidance) is
new frame that will take into account room for the battery the current state of art developed and available on some new
system, IMU’s, Control Cards, and space to accommodate the vehicles.
motors we will be using to drive the vehicle. While
conventional motorbikes use a single rear swing arm, this
vehicle will make use of a front swing arm as well, posing an
interesting challenge from a mechanical design perspective.
The exterior body of the vehicle will be fabricated using
fiberglass & carbon fiber to keep weight down while not
compromising on strength and aesthetics.

VI. USE CASES AND INTERACTION DIAGRAMS

1) Rahil is an affluent man with degenerating vision. In
2016 his doctor convinced him to give up driving. He
purchases an autonomous vehicle instead of shifting to
walking, transit and taxis. Impacts: An autonomous
vehicle allows Jake to continue using a car, which VIII. OTHER APPLICATIONS
increases his independent mobility, total vehicle A. Likely Uses of Self-Driving Taxis
ownership and travel, residential parking demand, and
external costs (congestion, roadway costs, parking
subsidies, and pollution emissions), compared with what
would otherwise occur.
2) Srushti lives and works in a suburb. She can bike to most
destinations but occasionally needs a car. In a city she
could rely on taxis and car sharing, but such services are
slow and expensive in suburbs. However, when she
started shopping for a car in 2016 a local company began
offering fast and affordable automated taxi services.
Impacts: Autonomous vehicles allow Srushti to rely on
shared vehicles rather than purchase a car, which reduces
her total vehicle travel, residential parking demand, and
external costs.
3) Maxi and Vineet have two children. Maxi works at a
downtown office. After their second child was born in
2014, they shopped for a larger home. With conventional
cars they would only consider houses within a 30-minute IX. CONCLUSION
drive of the city center, but relatively affordable new Autonomous vehicle implementation is just one of many
autonomous vehicles let them consider more distant trends likely to affect future transport demands and costs, and
homes, with commutes up to 60-minutes, during which therefore planning decisions, and not necessarily the most
Maxi could rest and work. important. This system uses spherical to minimize the effort
Impacts: Affordable new autonomous vehicles allows taken during turns, helps during accidents and improves the
Maxi and Vineet to choose an exurban home location, regular autonomous vehicle.

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X. FUTURE ASPECT AND SCOPE

Future Aspects of autonomous vehicles are likely to impact
transport planning as a whole.
1) Support large-scale autonomous vehicle testing.
Evaluate their benefits and costs under actual operating
conditions.
2) Study, and where appropriate support, autonomous
implementations for specific applications such as taxi,
car sharing and demand response services
3) If autonomous vehicles prove to be effective and
common, consider dedicating some highway lanes to
their use.
4) If autonomous vehicles prove overall beneficial and are
majority of vehicles, it may be possible to change
roadway design and management practices.
5) If autonomous vehicles prove to be very beneficial, it
may be appropriate to restrict human driving.
Though the immediate scope of the project is to have
a vehicle that can balance and maneuver at low speeds, the
ultimate goal is to have a fully functional electric vehicle that
will be able to have speed and range comparable to any other
vehicle.

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