Smart vehicles and subs in Canberra

At its open day on 26 August 2006 the Australian National University displayed the test-bed vehicle for its Smart Cars project and a minature robot submarine.

The test-bed vehicle in is a modified 1999 Toyota Landcruiser Four Wheel Drive. From the outside, the only obvious difference from any other SUV is a laser Range finder mounted on the bull bar, to scan the road ahead. Inside it is packed with computers and cameras.

The submarine is only about half a metre long, with five specially designed electric motors in place of the complex moving control surfaces of a conventional submarine. The intention is to have a large number of these submarines under computer control, cooperating to collect data under the ocean.