University students get $35,000 to build self-driving golf cart

A $35,000 grant from the University of Waterloo's start-up incubator Velocity is fuelling the dream of two university students to make autonomous vehicles a modern reality. 

Michael Skupien and Alex Rodrigues are the brains behind Varden Labs, a company launched in May 2015 with the goal of developing a self-driving golf-cart.

"We know it's going to be huge," said Skupien of autonomous technology. "We know it's going to be like the internet or even bigger than the internet." 

But just like the internet, the race to develop the first self-driving vehicle is a competitive one, involving multi-billion dollar companies like Google and Tesla.

"It's really hard as a startup, as two kids, to compete," Skupien said. "So, we wanted to get into a market that is a bit easier to tackle."

That's why the two students have set their sights on golf carts and other shuttle vehicles. 

Right now, Skupien says corporate campuses, retirement communities and resorts are hiring drivers to move people around. 

"The main issue with that is that hiring drivers is extremely expensive on a daily basis and, so, with a self driving shuttle, it would be an upfront cost, which would eliminate the need to pay drivers every year."

Varden Labs already has a prototype: a golf cart that has been retrofitted with self-driving technology like GPS and laser distance sensors. 

Skupien said he and Rodrigues will use their Velocity grant to purchased new sensors to replace the borrowed sensors they are using now.