EEC 195 A/B: Autonomous Vehicle Project
The students will be provided with a radio-controlled car chassis and the rules for the contest. The objective of the project is to design and construct an autonomous race car that can negotiate a preset course in the shortest time possible. The course is marked by 1-inch-wide white tape on a dark-colored background (carpet). In the spring, the students may compete against students from other universities in the NATCAR competition sponsored by National Semiconductor. The contest is intended for undergraduate students, but teams with graduate students, high-school students or students who have competed in a previous Natcar may attend the competition, although they will compete in a separate division.
EEC 195A (Winter Quarter 2026)
- Prerequisites: EEC 7 or ECS 36A, EEC 18, and one of the following: EEC 157A (concurrent), EEC 180 (concurrent), or ECS 36B (concurrent)
- Very helpful to know python or C++ and have some Linux experience
- 1 lecture/ week, Friday 9-10 am
- 1 scheduled lab/week, Friday 10 am-1 pm
- Open lab Friday afternoons
- Key access to 2147 to work on labs
- Work individually on the first few labs, then form project teams
EEC 195A Labs (Winter Quarter 2026)
We will focus on computer-vision-based solutions for navigation and control of a self-driving car. PID control is used to achieve high-speed navigation.
- Design a motor control PCB using Altium Designer
- Brushed DC motor control
- Servo control
- Power conditioning using low-dropout voltage regulators
- Soldering a simple motor control PCB.
- Controlling Traxxas motors (servo and DC motor) using PWM signals from a microcontroller.
- Implementing a speed sensor for closed-loop speed control.
- Line Detection and Lane Detection using computer vision libraries such as OpenCV or OpenMV microcontroller libraries.
Spring Quarter
- Line-following competition on Picnic Day.
- Built motor control PCB based on H-bridge controller IC
- 3D-print mounting hardware for camera and speed sensor
- Lane-following competition around track in 2147, 2151, hallway
- Extra credit options
- Outdoor navigation using GPS
- Stop sign detection using ML
- Outdoor line-following time trial
- Senior Design Showcase