PolySync is giving startups the keys to self-driving car prototypes.
As part of its 2-year-old Open Source Car Control project, the autonomous driving software company said today at the Los Angeles auto show that it is making available a hardware development kit that can be retrofitted to Kia Souls from 2014 model year and later for self-driving technology research. The designs for the kit can be accessed for free, or an assembled kit can be bought from PolySync.
“We know how hard it is to do this,” said PolySync CEO Josh Hartung. “If more companies are going to fool around with cars, we want to give them a way to do that and do it relatively safely.”
Hartung estimated that building an autonomous vehicle prototype from scratch can be $100,000 or more, but the combined cost of either building or purchasing the kit and the vehicle will be less than $10,000.
The kit’s software is open-source, meaning PolySync will make its control algorithms and future designs available to users, but it can also be modified and added to.
“It’s a controllable vehicle that’s lower cost and gives us more flexibility than typical stuff out there,” Hartung said.
The company said there are limited kits available for sale, and the University of Michigan Mobility Transformation Center will receive the first two.
