It’s a hot afternoon in the Twin Cities and the offices of VSI Labs are bustling. The team only has so much time before their upcoming cross-country trip in an autonomous test car. The company’s engineers and researchers are combing over every last detail before they depart for the Automated Drive West. Road trips are one thing, but traveling 2,000 miles in an autonomous vehicle is another ball game. VSI Founder and Principal Advisor, Phil Magney, who races Porsches in his spare time, ducks into his car to talk about the upcoming trip.
It’s the only quiet place he can find this particular afternoon.
“I just want to emphasize that we aren?t out to prove anything here, that?s not what we?re doing,” Magney said. “We?re researchers; it?s all about discovery, understanding the limits, and finding the gaps when it comes to automated driving.” Automated Drive West: The Test Car
VSI will make the 2,000-mile journey from their Minneapolis, Minnesota home to Santa Clara, California for the Drive World conference starting on August 27th. The Automated Drive West will expose their test car, a 2018 Ford Fusion with a Dataspeed by-wire control system, to a variety of terrains and weather conditions. On the journey, the team will examine and evaluate things like precision lane models and advanced GPS technology. The goal being to improve the performance and safety of both systems as they relate to autonomous driving.
“We will be able t...