Developing projects on the Raspberry Pi comes with its fair share of obstacles but what if you could monitor for disaster along the way? SVS Embedded has put together a project designed to do just that with their Pico-powered vehicle accident detection kit.
This is one of many projects developed by the team at SVS Embedded. If you haven’t heard of them before, they specialized in creating microelectronics projects for students and offering kits with everything you need to recreate them at home. We recently covered their Raspberry Pi Pico attendance system which uses an RFID sensor to verify user identity.
This project uses a Pico along with a GPS module, accelerometer, alcohol sensor and cellular module to detect accidents and send an SMS notification for help. In the demo video, the project is demonstrated using a small robotic car with motors also controlled by the Pico. The project is a proof of concept, to show how a Raspberry Pi Pico and the components can be used to create a potentially life saving device. The project could be easily integrated into a real vehicle.
SVS Embedded lists everything you need to recreate this project which includes a 16x2 LCD display, a GY-GPS6MV2 GPS module, an MQ3 alcohol sensor, an L293D motor controller for the wheels, an ADXL MEMS accelerometer and a GSM SIM800L cellular module. Some of these components are not critical and could be exchanged or omitted as needed but all of them are a great example of what can go into an accident detection system.
(Image credit: SVS Embedded)
In this project, the Pico checks for status information from each of the modules to determine whether or not alcohol levels have increased or if the vehicle has rotated due to a crash. If the system determines either of these factors have changed, it uses the cellular module to send an SMS notification with the suspected cause of the crash along with exact coordinate data using the GPS module.
If you want to create this Raspberry Pi project yourself, check out the SVS Kit website for more details and options to purchase a kit with all of the components ready to go. Alternatively, you can check out the video breakdown on YouTube and order everything one piece at a time. Be sure to follow SVS Embedded for more creative Pi-powered microelectronic projects.
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Ash Hill is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware with a wealth of experience in the hobby electronics, 3D printing and PCs. She manages the Pi projects of the month and much of our daily Raspberry Pi reporting while also finding the best coupons and deals on all tech.
