ITECH1101 - IT Problem Solving: Hackathon Report on Automated Cars

This report, submitted as part of the ITECH1101 IT Problem Solving course, details a Hackathon project focused on utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) to address the problem of road accidents. The student begins by analyzing the causes of accidents, such as speeding, distracted driving, and lack of driving experience, and proposes the use of automated or self-driving cars as a solution. The report outlines the project's schedule and development process, emphasizing the importance of safety measures. It explores the technology behind self-driving cars, including the use of sensors, radar, cameras, and AI, and discusses the working principles of these vehicles. The report also covers the coding aspects of the project, including challenges faced and solutions implemented, along with the advantages and disadvantages of automated cars, such as reduced human error, smoother traffic flow, and potential vulnerabilities. The report concludes with a discussion on the testing of the code and safety considerations, as well as the challenges associated with the implementation of automated cars, such as GPS interference and construction projects. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the project, demonstrating the student's understanding of AI technology and its potential applications in solving real-world problems.

Running head: ITECH1101 – IT PROBLEM SOLVING
ITECH1101 – IT Problem Solving
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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Part 2 – Hackathon Report
Journal Entry: Day 1
Tasks Attempted Today: Analysis of the Problem
I have done an extensive research on the current topic of the specification of the
Hackathon Assignment and have thus analysed the problems with the alarming rate of the rise
of accidents on the roads. The primary reason behind the accidents that occur in the roads are
high speed and rough driving in the roads, lack of self-control among the drivers while
driving, lack of proper driving experience of the drivers and many others. There are many
drivers who drink and drive the cars who create a lot of fuss on the roads. These reduces the
lack of safety on the roads. These accidents could be solved with the proper use of various
kind of measures of safety. The lack of proper kind of safety measures has been a major area
of cause in affecting the accidents in the roads. This results in the loss of lives of people.
There are many problems with the elderly people who drive their cars on the roads. With
aging they lack the sense of judgment, proper vision and many other kind of problems, which
can affect the quality of driving their cars. This also affects the safety on the roads. These
kind of reasons could be a major factor of the road related accidents. Based on the identified
problems faced within the rise of accidents on the roads, I have created a schedule of the
project based on the management and thus maintaining the proper timeline for the purpose of
project development.
Based on the analyzing of the problem, I have found out the fact that there is a major
area of concern for the safety on the roads. The drivers should follow the basic rules that are
already set and should abide by them. The drivers should keep a constant check on the
conditions of their personal vehicle. Whenever the driver would notice any kind of bouncing,
unnecessary shaking or swaying within the cars, they should service their cars at the proper

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time in order to avoid any situation of accident on the roads. The drive on the roads should be
smooth and comfortable rather than putting the driver and the surrounding people at the risk
of facing accidents. It is also the responsibility of the traffic police in order to maintain the
level of traffic on the roads. At times, the traffic police fail to control the level of traffic on
the roads, which may be a high cause for the accident on the roads. Thus the application of
the robotic technology within the cars would be able to solve the current problem.
Journal Entry Day: 2
Tasks Attempted Today: Technique of Solving Problem
Based on analysing the discussed problem, I have found out the technique of
resolving the above issue. In order to solve the problems that are arising with the road related
accidents, there should be proper measures in order to overcome and address the issues. The
use of robots related technology is of major use within the issues of safety with the driving of
cars. The use of driverless cars within the system could be a major life saving decision for the
people. These would help in improving the efficiency of driving in the streets and congested
areas. In the case of human driven cars, it is extremely important for the drivers to possess
sensory skills, which are extremely crucial in order to control the speed of the cars and thus
maintain the accuracy of driving. The driver should have the perfect knowledge of driving so
as to avoid the high chance of colliding with any kind of objects.
The use of robot technology within the system of driving could be a major life saving
decision in the recent times. It has been found that in the recent times technology has
increased to a much higher level with the rise of various kind of sensors and efficient
software, which prove to be useful for the issues related to driving. A self-driven comprises
of various kind of embedded sensors, radar, cameras and the use of artificial intelligence
(AI), which is meant to cover major destinations without the intervention of human related

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resources. In order to declare the car as a purely autonomous vehicle, the vehicle should be
able to fully able to operate on itself. The vehicle would be able to navigate itself to a
predetermined location with the use of sensors and the proper use of software. There are
many vehicle companies, which have mainly focused on the testing of the autonomous cars.
The companies include BMW, Tesla, Volkswagen, Volvo and Audi.
Journal Entry Day: 3
Tasks Attempted Today: Discussion on the working of self-driven cars
Based on the above discussion of solving the problems based on the rate of accidents,
I have found that the proper working of the self-driven cars could be achieved with the use of
proper kind of technology. It has been also found that the technology of self-driven cars have
been backed up with the use of technology of artificial intelligence. The primary developers
of the self-driven cars make the proper use of huge amounts of data. The data would be
gathered based on the systems of image recognition, along with the use of neural networks
and machine based learning in order to develop systems, which would be able to drive the
cars autonomously.
The neural based networks are based on the identification of different sets of the
patterns within the data. These networks are being fed into the various algorithms of machine
learning. The data would include several images that would be captured from different
cameras that are already set on the self-driven cars. These images would be meant to identify
the curbs, traffic lights, signs on the street, pedestrians and several other parts of the provided
environment.
While conducting an extensive research, which I had conducted on the topic it has
been seen that there are several companies who are working on the growth of the technology.
The example of a self-driven car is one which is being manufactured by Google. The name of

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the self-driven car project is named as Waymo. This technology by the tech giant makes use
of various kind of sensors, radar and different cameras that are meant to combine the various
sets of data, which are being generated in order to identify different kinds of object that have
surrounded the vehicle. These actions are performed within a very less amount of time. The
system of the self-driving cars works on the predetermined algorithm, which would be able to
learn more with the level of expertise and the level of maturity.
I had reviewed several findings based on the current selected domain. The use of the
automated cars could be a major help for the drivers. This would help in the reduction of the
rate of accidents faced on the roads, which leads to a loss of the economy of a country. In this
way, I have discussed about the various aspects based on the proper working of the self-
driven or automated cars.
Journal Entry Day: 4
Tasks Attempted Today: Coding of requirements along with advantages and disadvantages
of the automated cars
I had initiated the process of coding for a simple and small part of the self-driven cars.
There were some errors, which were faced by me during the logical part of the code. I had to
revise the project from the beginning in order to determine the steps that would be necessary
in order to implement the coding behind the technology. From the perspective of the design
stage, the diagram of all the activities conducted during the testing phase were followed for
the purpose of the identification of the errors. The activity diagram of the project helped me a
lot in order to determine the probable causes of error within the code. Hence I tried to ensure
that the proper implementation of the code should be done in order to make the robot to work
properly.

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Based on the understanding of the technology, I had found out the advantages and
disadvantages of the technology of automated cars. It has been found out that The use of
autonomous cars can reduce the risks of human error. Several high level of crashes on the
roads could be avoided with the help of self-driven cars. The use of autonomous cars can
reduce the risk factors from the equation. The self-driven cars can also be vulnerable to
mechanical based issues, which can lead to crashes within the roads. There is a high chance
that the autonomous based cars would be able to reduce the level of the number of crashes.
Thus the economic based benefits could be at a massive rate. The injuries on the human life
could have a massive impact on the economic growth of any country. These could lead to the
loss of productivity within the workplace. Another advantage with the use of autonomous
cars is that if the use of self-driven cars are increased then there would a smooth flow of
traffic and hence there would be less congestion of traffic. The occupants of the fully self-
driven cars would be able to do various kind of productive activities while they would be
commuting to their proper workplace. Those people would be highly helped who have some
amount of physical limitations and those who are not able to drive their personal vehicles.
They would be fully independent as the self-driven cars would be able to work on their own
and thus would be able to make the commuters to reach to their proper destination.
Although the advantages of the automated cars has gained much attention, it has been
also found out that there are certain disadvantages behind the working of these cars. There are
a certain level of disadvantages that are accompanied with the use of autonomous cars.
Firstly, the commuters might have a feeling that the self-driven cars that would be fully
operated on the use of sensors might be dangerous. It might take some time for the people to
accept the new form of technology, which would be fully and independently based on the
sensor based technology. They should leave themselves on the hands of the autopilot
technology. These system are extremely reliant and are very much smart enough to detect any

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kind of errors on the roads. They are also able to detect any kind of problems that might arise
during the time of driving.
Journal Entry Day: 5
Tasks Attempted Today: Testing of the codes, safety and the challenge with automated cars
I had prepared the project for the purpose of developing an automated car. Sensor
technology was basically used in order to detect the various obstacles, which would be
coming within the path of the car while it is being driven. The real time detection of the
problems within the car should be dealt with in order to determine the situations faced on the
road.
While focussing on the designing of the self-driven cars, it has been found that the
autonomous based cars are based on highly functional algorithms. These algorithms have
enabled the cars in order to identify in numerous number of objects within the path of the
vehicle such as the branches of tree, people, and blockages on the roads, traffic signals and
various other form of obstacles on the road. On the other hand, the other form of challenges
that interfere with the technology of autonomous cars are the tunnels in the road. They have a
major portion of interference with the Global Positioning System (GPS), various projects of
construction that are responsible for causing the changes of the lane and other kinds of
critical decisions such as the position of stop of emergency vehicles on the roads.
After a brief research on the topic, it has been seen that the system, which is operating
behind the autonomous cars have a basic need to make instant decisions based on the
conditions of the road. They should be able to decide the course of actions based on the
situation of the road such as slowing down of the vehicle, the swerving of the vehicle and the
level of acceleration that should be put in specific conditions. These conditions would be an
increasing challenge for the developers of the algorithm of self-driven cars as they have to

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develop the software in such a manner that they would be able to detect the blockages on the
roadways and then decide on the later course of decisions.
Journal Entry Day: 6
Tasks Attempted Today: Project Closure and Future Scope
Based on conducting a broad research based on the topic of automated cars, it has
been seen that the stakeholders who would be affected through the development of the
process would be analysed. The self-driven cars has a huge scope for improvement in the
future. They would be able to guide the future of driving. The path, which leads towards the
increasing features of self-driven cars had already started with the basic automation features
related to the convenience and safety with the effective use of cruise control and antilock
brakes. In the future, many kind of newly designed advanced features that includes electronic
stability control, detection of blind spot, collision detection strategy and warnings based on
lane shifting should be made to readily available within the autonomous vehicles. Other
features such as advanced capabilities related to assisting the driver such as automatics brakes
for emergency purposes, rear-view video cameras and special assistance on centering of the
cars on the lane would also be implemented within the system.
The discussion after the conclusion of the project leads to the fact that the use of
robots within the cars would be a major help for the purpose of driving. The use of robots
could lead to the reduction of the several forms of accidents. The algorithms, which would be
designed for the autonomous cars should be designed in such a way that they would be able
to make proper decisions on the road. The commuters who would be travelling within the
driverless cars would be entirely dependent on the software that would be operating within
the system. The system should be effective enough such that the problems, which would be

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faced could be easily solved on their own. The safety of the commuters should be a major
area of concern for the companies who are majorly working on the autonomous cars. There
are some legal and hurdles within the safety measures, which would be needed to be resolved
in order to launch the product within the market. When the robots would be able to replace
the humans in the field of driving, there should be a proper use of the traffic controllers. With
the help of the self-driven cars, the desired destination could be covered as per the directions
of the owner. The problem of ageing drivers would also be a permanent solution for the
errors, which are generally made by humans. This would enhance the system of driving.

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