PROVE Lab

Projects

Vehicles we've built,
and ones we're building.

Two vehicles, one lab: MILA, our autonomous electric car in development, and DAWN, the solar vehicle that started it all.

MILA: Autonomous EVDAWN: Solar Vehicle
MILA: Autonomous EV
Current projectIn development

MILA: Autonomous EV

MILA is PROVE Lab's flagship vehicle, an electric vehicle being developed into a fully autonomous car. A multidisciplinary student team designed and fabricated it in-house, integrating a custom 70 kWh battery system, a low-drag body with a drag coefficient near 0.12, and a full autonomy stack spanning perception, planning, and embedded vehicle control. MILA functions as a hands-on testbed for self-driving software and gives students industry-grade experience across the entire vehicle development process.

Battery
70 kWh custom pack
Drag coefficient
~0.12
Autonomy
Full self-driving stack
Platform
Electric Vehicle

MILA autonomy program

How MILA will drive itself.

Autonomy is not a separate project. It is the core of MILA: the same car, the same team, building the perception, planning, and control systems that let it drive without a driver.

Perception

The vehicle collects sensor data, and filters it for noise. The software identifies relevant objects, and creates a continuous 3d-map of car's surroundings.

Planning and Controls

Based on identified objects, the vehicle applies behavioral logic to adhere to driving rules. It then updates the vehicle's desired state, and immediate path toward the target destination.

Execution

The vehicle physically actuates its movement along its desired path, requiring full drive-by-wire capability to control the motor, braking, and turning.

2026-2027 Roadmap

MILA autonomous vehicle prototype on campus
November '26
Drive-by-wire

Drive the car with a joystick that communicates with the vehicle's software.

January '27
Autonomous line following

Perception and advanced controls enable the car to stay within a driving lane.

June '27
Autonomous Campus Navigation

The vehicle navigates between selected locations while adhering to traffic regulations.

DAWN: Solar Vehicle
Founding projectCompleted

DAWN: Solar Vehicle

DAWN is PROVE Lab's first vehicle and an early demonstration of what solar-powered transportation can achieve. Designed and built entirely by students, it runs on energy captured from its solar array alone, with no stored battery power. The project prioritized efficiency at every level, from a lightweight structure to a highly refined aerodynamic profile, reaching a top speed of 51 mph in testing and coming within reach of the world record for solar-powered vehicles. As the founding project, DAWN established the team's technical capabilities and set the direction for later work.

Power source
Solar array (no battery)
Top speed
51 mph (tested)
Focus
Aerodynamic efficiency
Status
Completed