Pakistan's first driverless car completes successful test drive

KARACHI – Engineers at NED University of Engineering and Technology have successfully conducted the test drive of Pakistan’s first driverless car developed using artificial intelligence.

During the test drive, the driverless car was seen moving smoothly on the NED campus road, leaving everyone amazed.

Work on the driverless car began a year ago at NED University’s National Center for Artificial Intelligence within the Department of Computer and Information Sciences. Today, this autonomous AI-driven vehicle is operational on the roads of NED.

A China-imported electric vehicle was converted into a driverless car using artificial intelligence, robotics, mapping, sensors, computer vision, and AI algorithms.

Dr Muhammad Khurram, Director of the National Center for Artificial Intelligence and head of the engineering team behind the project, told Express during the test drive that they had been working on this project for a year and had now brought it to maturity.

He said the team is currently conducting trials and road tests. “We have enhanced the system using radar technology and computer vision. After achieving steering control, we have now started working on object detection, lane recognition, speed limit detection, and signal light recognition — all of which will bring the car to fully autonomous driving.”

Currently, the vehicle’s speed is kept between 15 to 20 km/h in the algorithm. The autonomous system includes turning mode and traffic judgment for incoming vehicles.

Another team member, Inzimam Khan, said that this is among the few cars in the world capable of handling Pakistan’s uncontrolled urban environment. “Our sensor technology is very strong,” he added.

It is noteworthy that the project began during the tenure of former NED Vice-Chancellor Prof. Dr. Sarosh Hashmat Lodhi and has achieved an important milestone at the beginning of the tenure of the current Vice-Chancellor, Prof Dr Tufail Ahmed.