Self-Driving RC Car built on Jetson Xavier NX

Autonomous Machines Jetson & Embedded Systems Jetson Projects
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Hi everyone,

I’ve been working on this self-driving RC Car since September of last year, which is powered by an Nvidia Jetson NX and runs on ROS2. I’ve been able to race the car autonomously to almost 20mph on relatively slippery surfaces without crashing.

It works by

  1. mapping out an area using SLAM (I used the slam_toolbox package)
  2. Running a custom localization algorithm at 30hz on the map generated
  3. Following an optimal racing line that has been generated offline using my raceline optimization script and tracked using a Stanley Controller (I also tried a Pure Pursuit controller). Additional personal notes here.
  4. (to be released soon) Avoids obstacles and opponents using an occupancy grid

The code is entirely open-sourced on GitHub. I also made two YouTube videos that showcase the engineering process behind getting this car to drive autonomously, which you can check out below:

I’m hoping to release a 3rd one soon showcasing obstacle avoidance and head-to-head racing! Meanwhile, here’s a sneak peek of a run I did against a human RC driver last weekend.

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