Two students at the University of Waterloo received a $35,000 grant to further develop a prototype self-driving golf cart.
Michael Skupien, the golf cart’s mechanical designer, and Alex Rodrigues, its software developer, are the brains behind Waterloo start-up Varden Labs. It was created in May with a goal of completing the world’s first self-driving golf cart.
The tech start-up recently won the grant from a competition by Velocity, a start-up incubator at the university that provides space, funding, and expertise for student tech entrepreneurs.
Skupien said they built the prototype cart using mostly money out of their own pockets, along with a donated GPS system from Calgary-based tech company NovAtel.
The prototype cart runs on two main sensors. To automate routes, the cart must be driven manually once using GPS, which is then scanned and processed using remote sensing technology. The information is then processed to identify where objects are, where there is ground, and when to come to a stop.
With the grant money, Skupien said they will be looking into using the money to push themselves “to make some more prototypes along with some other [self-driving] vehicles.”
Skupien said he then wants to test it in different places and then “refine [its] software in a new environment, before receiving more funding to build a final product.”
Skupien said their invention could be used as a shuttle rather than as consumer vehicles. He said it could be practical in places like retirement homes where people may not have their licenses, and at resorts, where people may consume alcohol.
With the carts being smaller and having a lower levels of speed compared to other self-driving vehicles, Skupien said their prototype is open to new markets as its lower price range makes it very different from larger vehicles designed by companies like Google.
Skupien said they had worked on the golf cart during a four-month engineering co-op term. The university usually sends students to larger companies, but also allows students to work at local student tech start-ups.
“Alex and I ran our own company for our co-op term, so we have been able to work full-time without any interference with school or anything like that,” he said.
