Adam Gaier wins E-Drive Academy award

Adam Gaier received the second prize for his master’s project “Energy Efficient Control Policies using Evolutionary Strategies”.

Adam explains his project as follows: “A vehicle controller was designed which, when given a map of the elevation of the road you plan on traveling and the time you want to be there, controls the motor in such a way as to use a minimal amount of energy to get you to your destination on time. This was done through a naturally-inspired algorithm which mimics biological evolution to produce an artificial neural network that reacts to its environment. By taking this alternative approach the controller was able to perform just as well as traditional planning techniques, but instantaneously and thousands of times more efficiently, allowing us to use it on our own experimental vehicle with only the need for very simple and cheap electronics.”