Autonomous cars are all the rage in the auto industry these days, but Bjorn Harms of the Netherlands has a self-driving Corvette of a very different kind. Harms is a computer technician and apparently a rather skilled one because he is able to rig up a controller and motors that allow him to drive his 2006 Corvette remotely. To make the build even more impressive, the ‘Vette is also his daily driver.
Harms’ work is quite impressive. He bought the Corvette two years ago and decided to create a remote-controlled-driving system for it with inspiration from Back to the Future. He built a universal motor controller for sending commands to the extra devices for operating the accelerator, brakes, steering wheel, and gearshift. He even came up with a fail-safe feature that if the ‘Vette leaves the range of the remote control, it automatically stops itself.
It didn’t take that long to get everything working. Harms said designing the universal motor controller took about a year. There was then six months of prototyping and testing to make sure everything was safe to use. In total, he estimates the cost of all the equipment at about 3,500 euros ($4,062 at current exchange rates), which seems reasonable for such an amazing outcome.
Harms demonstrates the setup in an empty parking lot, and it works as promised. He can watch his own car do donuts and slide around. Or, it’s even possible to drive the Corvette from the passenger seat.
With Cadillac recent announcement about offering the Super Cruise hands-free semi-autonomous driving system on models from other General Motors brands starting in 2020, it might not be too long before a truly self-driving Corvette is available from dealers.
Source: Barcroft Cars via YouTube
