Spartans in the driver’s seat: The future of autonomous vehicles

At Michigan State University, researchers are accelerating the future of driving by making autonomous vehicles safer under any road or weather conditions. 

Integrating different technologies and using multimodal sensor fusion, they are leading innovation that allows autonomous vehicles to perceive the environment in challenging conditions like snow, heavy rain and fog and react appropriately. 

“That's one critical aspect of what we are doing that's differentiating MSU from other research groups,” says Hayder Radha, professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of the Connected and Autonomous Networked Vehicles for Active Safety {CANVAS) program at MSU. “The immediate impact of what we’re doing is really achieving a high level of safety. It's very well known that more than 90% of fatalities that happen due to accidents and crashes on the road are due to human errors. First and foremost, autonomous vehicles will be saving lives.”

The work done at CANVAS is critical to maintaining Michigan’s role as the epicenter for the automotive industry. 

“In terms of the transitioning into autonomous vehicle technologies, we believe that MSU could enable the state of Michigan to become the best place for the automotive industry for many, many decades into the future,” says Radha. 

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