GREENSBORO, N.C. -- When it comes to self-driving cars, North Carolina A&T State University stands ahead of the state.
- NCA&T has been nationally recognized for their work in autonomous technology, autonomous vehicle technologies
- Downtown Greensboro Inc. gave them $50K to prototype and deploy two self-driving shuttles to serve downtown
- NCA&T hopes to have a very early prototype by August
"We have been working on this technology right now for about four, five years. A&T has been now national recognized as far as the development of autonomous technology, autonomous vehicle technologies," Dr. Ali Karimoddini of the engineering department says.
Last year they received a grant from the North Carolina Department of Transportation, and this month Downtown Greensboro Incorporated gave them $50,000 to prototype and deploy two self-driving shuttles to serve downtown.
"We don't think of ourselves as a college town, but quite frankly we're very much a college town, and so what we're trying to do at Downtown Greensboro Incorporated is engage our college students and the universities as much as possible," DGI President Zack Matheny says.
NCA&T already has a test track for autonomous vehicles, and Karimoddini believes they could have a very early prototype by August. He adds, however, there will be many more prototypes and that none will be tested on roads until certified.
"Hopefully some point Greensboro is going to be one of the pioneer cities that is deploying this technology in downtown area, and it's going to be a big achievement for everybody to see the actual deployment of the technology," Karimoddini says.