Development of an Autonomous Electric Vehicle with Solar Tracker

This paper presents a solar powered autonomous electric vehicle with a solar tracker to maximize the solar power harvested. The solar tracker tracks the sun's rays and modifies the panel's reflecting surface according to the intensity. Real-time image processing technique is used for road sign recognition, obstacle recognition and avoidance. Experimental results show that the autonomous electric vehicle can navigate to various destinations without human intervention and can detect objects up to a given threshold cm accurately. Traffic signal detection test results shows that the vehicle stops exactly at the pre-defined position. In obstacle recognition and avoidance test obstacles like potholes, pedestrians and vehicles were detected and avoided successfully. The proposed method of harvesting solar energy using a solar tracker for an autonomous electric vehicle leads to notable gains in energy efficiency, increasing the vehicle's range and decreasing its dependency on outside power sources. This strategy contributes to a cleaner and greener transportation ecosystem by increasing solar power capture and lowering the vehicle's carbon footprint.