LPU students develop 1st driverless solar-powered bus, To welcome PM Narendra Modi

The eco-friendly solar powered-bus will hit airports, industries and in smart cities later

Jalandhar, December 27, 2018: Students of different departments of Lovely Professional University (LPU) have designed and built driverless solar-powered bus after putting a lot of efforts to give shape to their dream. The bus is slated to enter commercial service later this year. This first prototype will be used to welcome and ferry Honourable Prime Minister to the venue of Indian Science Congress to be held at the LPU campus on January 3, 2019.

Once launched commercially, the bus will be used at airports, housing societies, industrial complexes, and educational institutions. The design of the bus has been made keeping in mind Indian conditions and the vehicle will cost  just Rs. 6 lakh. Since the engine is both battery and solar powered, so its’ running cost is almost negligible. The bus has a maximum speed of 30 km/ph and could have a seating capacity from 10-30 people.

Over 300 students from Mechanical, Electrical, and Computer Engineering departments of the university collaborated under the guidance of LPU professors and experts to design and fabricate the vehicle. The fabrication is being done at the LPU Project Studio itself where other Research & Development and product commercialization also take place.

Unlike most hybrid vehicles, using internal combustion engine along with electric motors, the bus is completely pollution free and uses only renewable energy, in the form of electric motor and solar power, for propulsion. Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication technology has been used to make the bus driverless. The bus also uses GPS and Bluetooth for navigation and could be controlled within a radius of 10 meters.

LPU 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 the LPU students include Flying Farmer,  a wireless sensor device, exclusively used in farming and field survey, Formula one car and Go-karts. In fact, the 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.”

Mandeep Singh, Project head, said, “We are very happy to design a completely driverless and eco-friendly bus to welcome PM Modi. If his schedule and security arrangements permit, we would love to give him a tour of our campus in the bus.”