“It has a mind of its own,” said Mike Reid, 22, general manager for Alvin’s creator, Varden Labs, explaining the little car’s nickname.
The Mountain View-based company is made up of former University of Waterloo engineering students who hope to lease driverless shuttle vehicles to colleges. The Polaris Gem vehicle, basically an oversized golf cart, is fitted with computers and a rooftop laser that serves as the vehicle’s eyes.
“For most people, self-driving technology is sort of science fiction,” Reid said as the car transported riders between the Hornet Bookstore and the Guy West Bridge steps. “This shows people the technology is a real option, and it allows us to run tests in a real environment.”
On Monday, Alvin drove slowly and at times haltingly at about five miles per hour through a thicket of strolling students, some on bikes, others on skateboards. At one point, a cyclist scooted quickly across its path, causing it to jolt to a stop. At another point, the car had to creep along at pedestrian speed for nearly a half-minute because two students were walking slowly ahead in the same direction, and didn’t step aside.
Varden is among dozens of technology and car companies now testing autonomous vehicles around the world. Varden’s $50,000 all-electric vehicle is less sophisticated than Google driverless cars being tested in traffic on public streets in Mountain View and other cities. It is programmed to follow a given route and it cannot deviate, even a few feet. If something is in its way, it must slow down or stop until that object moves aside.
Reid said the company would like to advance its technology so that the shuttles can act more like a free-range taxi, rather than a fixed-route bus, allowing them to pick people up wherever they are and take them wherever they want to go. He said the company will continue testing and improving the technology for about a year and offering demonstrations on campus, then attempt to lease cars to colleges.
Tony Lucas, Sacramento State’s transportation and parking services director, said the university is hosting Varden as an educational opportunity for students, and as a chance for administrators to check out the technology for potential future use. The university currently has student-driven campus shuttles. Lucas said the university is not considering at this point making changes in its transportation programs.
“We don’t know necessarily whether this technology is ready for prime time, but we think it is good for our students to be exposed to it,” Lucas said.
Sacramento State civil engineering student Gabriella Lopez was among the first students to check the car out. “Impressive,” she said. She said she thinks the technology can bring safety improvements to driving, for the most part.
“There is a small degree of untrustworthiness,” she said. “But some drivers behind the wheel are not trustworthy either.”
©2016 The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
