MSU students showcase eco-friendly electric vehicle on-campus
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – Drivers and students are finding new ways to save money on fuel, and educational methods for people to use electric vehicles.
The MSU EcoCAR EV Challenge team allows visitors on campus to get a close-up look at developing vehicle technology.
Students are getting hands-on experience on top of studying innovative ways of transportation without your traditional foot pedals.
The EcoCar Electric Vehicle Challenge team is showing off its work to the public on the MSU campus.
The 4-year project takes a base electric vehicle and enhances it with more eco-friendly and safety modifications.
“What we are doing is adding adaptive cruise-control, which slows down when it sees a vehicle in front of it and lane-centering control, which steers the vehicle and maintains it in the center of the lane,” Sam Ball said. “We also added automatic intersection navigation, which is a bonus feature that the LYRIQ does not have at stock. It allows one to go to a red light, see that it is red, stop, and then go when it is green.”
Team leaders provided a demonstration of the new Cadillac LYRIQ, showcasing its features, including LiDAR.
Visitors were also able to hear from experts about the future of accessible, long-lasting, independent driving.
Car team leader Isaac Alanis said the hands-on experience is a win-win for them as students, as the project puts them behind the wheel of what’s happening in the real-world automotive industry.
“I always loved automotive since I was a little kid,” Alanis said. “So working on a project like this is really cool, especially since I’m working with General Motors, this is one of my leading jobs, I want to go to. I was lucky to get an internship with them this summer, so showcasing this to fellow MSU students who are also my peers, is a really cool experience and I enjoy it a lot.”
MSU professor John Ball said it is satisfying helping students be a part of the next generation of advanced vehicle engineering.
“Many students go on and work at different automotive companies but others go to different places and the skills that they learn here: the software, teamwork, ability’s to work together solve hard problems, that’s going to help them anywhere,” Ball said. “Most of them it is not a question of if they are going to get a job, it’s which one they are going to take.”
MSU is one of 14 teams competing in the nationwide 4 year EcoCAR Electric Vehicle Challenge.
