This Guy Built His Own Autonomous Car for Less Than $1,000

While automotive engineers continue to figure out autonomous vehicles, Keran McKenzie has taken it up himself and built his own. The Aussie hacked his 2012 Ford Focus into a roboticized car using a handful of 150-degree cameras, Arduinos, and a SparkFun MicroView. A self-driving whip for less than $1,000? What a time to be alive!

The idea all began with a “home” button on his car’s center console. McKenzie figured, why simply plot a trip back to his house and not just have his Focus take him there instead?

To accomplish this, he swapped out his vehicle’s ultrasonic systems with five little cameras connected to Arduino boards, and hooked these up to a master processor located at the back of the engine compartment. He finished off his build by adding a SparkFun MicroView for visual feedback inside the car, situated just below his steering wheel.

Watch the video below as McKensize walks you through his project and shows off his automated whip! Oh, and in case you were wondering…

[h/t IEEE Spectrum]