The team who built a homemade Cybertruck just made it autonomous.
James Hobson, also known as Hacksmith Industries, is back in his mad scientist era.
He and his team just added self-driving software to their DIY version of the Cybertruck.
With only a few (mannequin) casualties along the way.
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When Elon Musk announced the Cybertruck in 2019, Hobson knew he had to have one.
Like 2 million other people, he put his name on the waiting list to buy one.
But with potential buyers expected to wait about five years to receive theirs, he took matters into his own hands.
He and his team at Hammersmith Industries got to work, managing to have theirs finished nearly four years before Musk’s version.
Hammersmith Industries is known for its crazy builds; it’s the same team that built the giant, rideable robotic spider once.
It only took them eight weeks to complete their homemade Cybertruck, which was built to half-scale.
The mini truck matches up pretty well with its inspiration.
It charges with a regular Tesla charging port, can out-tow a Ford F-150 and can even handle being shot at with an arrow, just like Musk’s truck.
But once the novelty wore off, the small truck was stuck on a shelf and had been gathering dust there for months.
Recently, to celebrate being number 80.3k in line to buy a Cybertruck, Hobson decided it was time to revive the project.
Besides upgrading its motor and steering system, Hobson set out to make his homemade Cybertruck autonomous.
The team tested the self-driving software on a toy remote-controlled car.
Once that was perfected, they took the same hardware from the car and put it into the Cybertruck.
There were numerous failed self-driven missions, including one where the car nearly drove off a cliff.
But eventually, the car was able to drive simple routes without any steering.
Next, the team set up an obstacle course and invited their friends to test it out, a brave feat given that the car didn’t have programmed obstacle avoidance installed yet.
“It feels like a bad amusement park ride,” one of their friends said.
There were a few bumps along the route, and a few mannequins lost some limbs, but the homemade Cybertruck fared well.
Now the team uses it for important tasks like delivering boxes around their house and driving them up the hill so they can zipline down.
