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Stanford and Volkswagen Create Autonomous Vehicle

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the race-is-on dept.

nght2000 writes "Stanford University has created an autonomous driving robot to compete in the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge Race. The race will be held on October 8, 2005 in the desert Southwest. The team that develops an autonomous ground vehicle that finishes the designated route most quickly within 10 hours will receive $2 million. The route will be no more than 175 miles over desert terrain featuring natural and man-made obstacles. The Stanford Racing Team's vehicle is a Volkswagen R5 turbo diesel Touareg that was donated by Volkswagen of America. The Stanford Team has been working with the Volkswagen Electronics Research Laboratory on the project."

6 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. The people's car... by FlameboyC11 · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...without people! Gotta love that.

  2. I worked on this project for a few hours by CrazyJim1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I only did some roadmapping for CMU. Outside of creating true artificial intelligence, only luck can win this goal. You map a route then calibrate your GPS, and hope the vehicle can stay on the road you drew, and hope it doesn't hit any obsticles in the way.

    --
    God spoke to me.
  3. this specifically won't work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The course is specifically designed to defeat the gps+road map method of solving the puzzle.

    It is guaranted that the vehicle has to pass through a tunnel or other type of obstruction that disables GPS.

    Also, it is guaranteed that all roads will have obsticles at random locations that must be avoided. I understand that there are points where the vehicle must do an obstacle course and avoiding it or jumping over it is banned.

    1. Re:this specifically won't work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I'm working on the project for a different team. This can work. The competition is aimed towards making military vehicles that can drive autonomous. The military will look at satellite photos and choose a path for the vehicle to follow. The vehicle is then given these GPS points and must go. There will be cases where GPS may not be available for a short period of time; this problem is solved by an inertial navigation system, which uses gyroscopic sensors and accelerometers to give location based on the last known GPS location. There will also be situations where there will be obstacles and the vehicle must navigate through them using lasers and cameras. They are creating a real environment to test these machines in.

  4. They're a bit optimistic.. by ElScorcho · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The team that develops an autonomous ground vehicle that finishes the designated route most quickly within 10 hours will receive $2 million.

    Considering no vehicle has made it more than a couple miles in these races before, I find it pretty funny that they include the "finished most quickly" bit. If anyone could finish at all it would be a huge leap forward. Some of the footage last year was pretty amusing. One in particular I remember was a big SUV looking vehicle that was really moving, made it about 2 miles before it got stuck. Seems to me they'd be better served if they laid off the emphasis on speed for the time being and just got to the point where a sharp turn can be safely negotiated.

    --
    Evil will always win, because Good is DUMB
  5. "On the road of life... by samkass · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "There are passengers and there are drivers. Drivers not wanted."

    As someone who went to CMU, I'm of course rooting for the home team, but it is fun to read about the other guys. For the on-road stuff, they had those trucks zipping driver-less, pretty fast, through Schenley Park back in the 90's, so it'll be interesting to see if they can keep on the trail this time for the off-road challenge.

    --
    E pluribus unum