Elcano self driving trike for under $1000 to achieve the equivalent of 1000 mpge

The Elcano Project aims to make self-drive real for students and hobbyists. The Elcano Project provides a blueprint for building your own experimental automated vehicle using electronics and sensors costing under $1000. A tricycle with an electric helper motor under 750 Watt and top speed under 20 mph is legally a bicycle, and thus street-legal without license, registration or insurance.

The goals of the Elcano Project are:
* Make autonomy available to non-specialists.
* Produce an experimental vehicle and electronics costing less than $5,000 total. A fully enclosed road-worthy production vehicle should cost less than $10,000.
* Generate public demand for road automation.
* Encourage high fuel efficiency (1000 mpg / 0.25 L/100 km) through ultra-light automated vehicles.
* Set standards for cooperative automation using a scalable distributed Traffic Management System.

The long term vision is not a single self-driving vehicle, but a collection of such vehicles that communicates with each other. Automatic vehicles can take instructions from a roadside Traffic Management Computer that manages a section of roadways. These computers would link together to form a distributed, scalable Traffic Management System; such a system can reduce congestion.

China’s Baidu is believed to be working on unmanned self driving bicycles. The Elcano project shows that the self driving bicycle concept is real and would be very worthwhile.

Recumbant trikes are super-energy efficient [ IEEE Energy and Autonomous Urban Land Vehicles (10 pages)]

The vehicle that minimizes power consumption looks like a three wheeled recumbent motorcycle enclosed by a streamlined body. It might be 0.8 meters wide, 1.2 meters high and 3 meters long. A tandem version might double the length. These pod cars would be primarily designed for commuting. If used by a family or group, several pods can be electronically linked to each other and function as a single vehicle. A shopper can attach a second vehicle to carry purchases.

About 50 times more energy efficient than a car

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