Partners Plan Contest to Develop Self-Driving Car

Udacity Inc., a Silicon Valley-based online education provider, is partnering with Tier IV Inc., a Nagoya, Japan-based developer of autonomous vehicle control software, to tap ideas from the public to create its own self-driving vehicle.

The partners will start with Tier IV’s Autoware operating system for their driverless car, The Nikkei reports. But they also plan to ask for input from an expected 10,000 participants in a call for online suggestions from the public about how to fine-tune the software.

Autoware was developed by several Japanese institutions, including Nagoya University and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. The software’s source code was released for open use in 2015.

Udacity was founded by Sebastian Thrun, a Stanford University research professor who famously offered his “introduction to artificial intelligence” class online to everyone, for free. When more than 160,000 students in 190 countries signed up, he launched Udacity. The non-accredited company provides online education training and “nanodegrees” in a variety of technical subjects, including driverless vehicle engineering.