A student at the University of Central Florida recently got the chance to demonstrate his cutting-edge driving technology for President Barack Obama.
Taylor Lochrane, a former Student Government Vice President at UCF and current student, gave President Barack Obama a demonstration of his innovative transportation technology on Tuesday at a federal highway research center in Virginia.
Obama visited Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, where Lochrane works as a research civil engineer, and tested a driving simulator while learning about connected vehicles. Lochrane showed President Obama a vehicle he customized with special sensors as part of technology that could make highways less congested and safer to travel.
“It was really exciting,” Lochrane said. “He was very interested in our research.”
Lochrane demonstrated the technology that supports one of the center’s active projects on Speed Harmonization, a method to reduce congestion where lanes merge and form bottlenecks — the greatest cause of congestion nationwide, UCF said.
Lochrane has two UCF engineering degrees and is on track to earn a Ph.D. this fall, according to UCF. He landed his job with the federal Department of Transportation research center in 2011 after earning several awards, internships and fellowships while studying transportation engineering at UCF.
As a former Vice President of UCF’s Student Government, Lochrane saw several of his initiatives come to life, including Zimride, a ride share for students, and the launch of KnightLYNX, an evening bus service for students.
“UCF really does stand for opportunity,” he said. “If it weren’t for UCF, I wouldn’t be here. They give you the opportunity, you just have to grab it.”
