City students to make driving safer with smart technology

Designed to make driving safe and secure, the digital kit is connected to the on-board diagnostics (OBD) unit in the car, which then transmits the driving pattern of the driver to the cloud server, which can be accessed through a mobile application. 

Vinith Kannan, L Vishal and S Saran spent about a year to develop the system, completing it in February this year. Vinith said that they integrated various technologies of mobile computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, big data analytics, machine learning and multiple sensor fusion, to do the job.

“The digital card in our kit will fetch data, like speed from the car’s OBD unit, and transmit it to the cloud server on a regular basis, where it will be stored and from where it can be accessed by the driver and owner of the car. If any vehicle is being driven rashly, drivers in its vicinity can also be alerted as a precautionary measure and asked to drive carefully, keeping in mind that they have a dangerous driver in their midst, which incorporates the concept of ‘Connected Cars’,” he said. 

Vishal pointed out that their system did not need any extra sensor, apart from the one available in the car’s OBD unit, to obtain data from the vehicle. 

“We have developed our own algorithm for the system, which is another unique feature of it. Insurance companies can use the data from our system to get information on the driving behaviour of the person in the case of an accident. Our system can also be deployed in school and college vehicles, government buses, private cabs, driving school vehicles, besides Regional Transport Offices (RTOs), to analyse the driver’s driving pattern,” he said.

Saran pointed out that they had developed the mobile application for various platforms, including Android and iOS. 

“Each driver and owner will have their own unique user name and password with which they can check the data. Our system can be incorporated as part of the Union government’s smart city initiative,” he added. 

The RMK Group, with its three engineering colleges, established the Digital Enterprise Centre of Excellence (COE) where their students can develop apps and upload them on the Google Play Store and App Store. The RMK Group has established iOS Labs for mobile app development and Big Data Analytics labs in all three colleges for developing digital enterprise apps and providing facilities for students to get hands-on training and a place to develop their project.