Autonomous Vehicle

Weather Detection System

Mark Drago, Cole Halpin, Zi Ying Joelle Chan, Gino Nanni
Outline
Area Addressed
Design Requirements
Concepts Considered
Scoring Matrix
Our Solution
Why Our Design?
Systems Diagram
Prototype
Concept of Operation [4]
Ethical Considerations
Area Addressed
Our team is addressing the safety of an autonomous vehicle.

Our design attempts to address the technological hole, which is the car's ability to detect and adjust for
bad road conditions.
Design Requirements [10]

Cost
Less than $1500
Should not make car price dramatically increase
Must work
Safety for all passengers
Lifespan equal to vehicle
10 - 15 years
Consumers not fans of repairs
Easily Repairable
Quick repairs
Low cost
Easily integratable
Low cost
Implemented quickly
 Concepts Considered

Moisture Detection Wavelength Detection

Detects moisture from the road. Detects reflection of wavelength

from the road.

Car automatically compensates for Different conditions will reflect

the changes that are detected. differently.

Compensates for weather by

reading wavelength.

[7]
[8] [9]
 Scoring Matrix

Key

Concept A:
Moisture
Detection

Concept B:
Wavelength
Detection
Our Solution
[2]
- After deliberation we decided simple is best
- Water sensor vs Cameras
- The presence of water on the sensor tells the car to reduce its speed by 5 - 10 mph
- Allows for detection of both rain and snow on any terrain
- Easy to integrate into the already existing systems.

[1]
Why Our Design?
- As a team, we settled on the water sensor idea due to a variety of reasons
- The technology already exists and is rather cheap [1]
- More durable than the previous camera ideas
- Easily integratable and replaceable
- No need to account for asphalt vs dirt roads vs concrete
- Presence of moisture is more accurate than light detection
- Braking vs Deceleration
- Most of all, it increases the safety of the passengers

[5,6]
Systems Diagram

System Encompassed:
Weather Sensor and
immediate components

Subsystems:
- Water Sensor
- CPU
- Brakes/Engine
- Electrical
Prototype
- Our prototype is a simple model of a wheel well to identify
where our sensor will be
- No prototype of the actual sensor
- Approximated to be rather small
Concept of Operation

Located just inside the wheel well.

The sensor will catch water coming off the wheel.

The sensor will then give the car information.

The car then adjusts to the amount of moisture picked up.

Adjustments like applying the brakes earlier, cruising at a lower speed, or lowering what gear the car is in
could be potentially lifesaving to the occupants inside.
Life Cycle Analysis
Ethical considerations
- Safety is a big problem when it comes to driving,90 % of accidents on the road is due to human error [3].
- Every year , 1.5 millions of accidents are reported to be weather related., which represents 43% of
accidents [3] :
- 670,000 injuries per year are attributable to weather, with 7,400 deaths.
- The other half do not create any injuries and deaths , but it still does cause property damage.

Our system can reduce the traffic accidents by 43 %

Likelihood of adoption
- As said earlier, improve safety on the road
- The cost of the project:
- The water sensor : 150 $ per unit
- The creation of program used : $38.39*8 hours*5 days*4 weeks*5 programmers =30,000$ (but
only need to this price once and then we just need to have different copies of the software)
- Cost of implementation
We can consider that it only add 150$ + the cost of implementation to the total
price of the car.
Conclusion
we design our project in order to improve the safety while driving by measuring the moisture on the road,
the sensor will send information to the CPU to decrease the speed of the vehicle, which will reduce the total
road accidents by 43%

Our design meets the design requirements, it can be easily integrated in the car, CPU and electrical system
already exists. If it is broken, we only need to change the sensor, and the sensor can last for 8-10 years and
do not need any regular maintenance.

Regarding the cost of the design, if it is implemented on the car, we can say that it is really small compared to
the price of the car. We can estimate that it will cost less than 1000$ , thus it is highly probable that the
customer might invest in it.
Works Cited
[1] Wi-Fi Water Sensor. Dlink, Dlink, us.dlink.com/products/connected-home/wi-fi-water-sensor/. Web.
[2]RAIN DROP DETECTION MODULE SENSOR RAINDROPS HUMIDITY WEATHER SENSOR YL83. Electronic
Components Online, Electronic Components Online, 2016,
www.xcluma.com/rain-drop-detection-module-sensor-raindrops-humidity-weather-sensor-yl83. Web.
[3]Driving Hazards. Auto Insurance,
www.autoinsurance.org/driving-hazards/.https://www.autoinsurance.org/driving-hazards/. Web.
[4] Perlick, Christine. Autonomous Vehicles: Planning for Impacts on Cities and Regions. Mobility Lab, Arlington
County Commuter Services, 24 July 2017,
mobilitylab.org/event/policy-implications-autonomous-vehicles-cities-regions/. Web.
[5] Kells. CEMENT ROADS FOR HARARE EDGE CLOSER. ZiMetro, 9 Mar. 2017,
zimetro.com/cement-roads-for-harare-edge-closer/. Web.
[6] Roads. LL Pelling - Asphalt Paving in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, LL Pelling, 2007,
www.llpelling.com/projects/roads/. Web.
[7] LED Wavelength vs. LED Colour, www.rs-online.com/designspark/led-wavelength-vs-led-colour.
[8] Teardrop Clipart. Teardrop Clipart | Free Download Clip Art | Free Clip Art | on Clipart Library, clipart-library.com/teardrop-clipart.html.
[9] Alarm red flat icon alert sign bell symbol. 123RF Stock Photos,
www.123rf.com/photo_38397271_alarm-red-flat-icon-alert-sign-bell-symbol.html.
[10] Champion of Durable Paints: STEEL-IT Product Durability FAQ. Durable Paint | STEEL-IT High Durability Paint FAQ,
www.steel-it.com/durable-paint-27.