Autonomous vehicles = yawn, ho hum, BORing. Oh, autonomous vehicle racing, you say? Now, that's really something else entirely. Oh, this really is so cool!Check out the "Boss"...
Boss is equipped with more than a dozen lasers, cameras and radars to view the world. High-level route planning determines the best path through a road network. Motion planning requires consideration of the static and dynamic obstacles detected by perception, as well as lane and road boundary information, parking lot boundaries, stop lines, speed limits, and similar requirements. Boss handles surprises such as other vehicles running a stop sign or making sudden stops or turns. Defensive driving skills allow Boss to avoid crashes.Just one of 11 finalists in the $3.5 million Urban Challenge put on by DARPA (aka R&D for DoD), Boss will face his (her?) toughest challenge yet. Beginning tomorrow morning at 8:00 PDT, Boss and the other 10 vehicles will "launch" on a 60 mile race through the boroughs and 'hoods' of thriving Victorville, California. First one to the finish line, gets $2 million dollars.
In case you can't make the trek to V-ville, check out the live video feeds and photos.
Should be a very entertaining show, with a lot of money on the line (not to mention the long-term implications of robot-controlled transportation). Happy viewing!
photo courtesy of Carnegie Mellon Tartan Racing
No comments:
Post a Comment