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DARPA Grand Challenge A Real Race At Last?

Posted by Zonk on from the flat-out dept.

museumpeace writes "News.com has posted its second story in a week on a hopeful Grand Challenge contender. Stanford's Stanley, a VW Touareg run by 100,000 lines of code can hit 40 mph and has now traversed all but 3 miles of last year's desert course without problems. A few days earlier, Carnegie Mellon University's Team Red announced that its Sandstorm, a modified Hummer, had run 200 miles without any problems though on a closed track. DARPA cut the field to 40 in June and will cut it to 20 before the race in October."

9 of 173 comments (clear)

  1. Does it come with a stereo? by Realistic_Dragon · · Score: 5, Funny

    I wish my girlfriend could drive 200 miles without crashing into something. Perhaps theres a trade in programme or something?

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    Beep beep.
  2. Hummer went 200 miles without a problem... by RandoX · · Score: 5, Funny

    Was it refueled on the fly?

  3. Princeton by Adrilla · · Score: 4, Informative

    A guy from princeton made some posts claiming that his team had run the entire course and then some last night. They can be found in this thread ps: they haven't made the final roster yet.

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    "Plans are for fools! Oglethorpe, the plutonian (Aqua Teen Hunger Force)
  4. Re:Arguably the worst name ever for a product... by Hays · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I agree. And the commercials making fun of the name made it even worse! They had 20 different people guessing how to pronounce it, and then at the very end the announce said it correctly. But I sure as heck can't remember which one is correct after being bombarded with 20 mispronounciations.

  5. Go Standford! by American+AC+in+Paris · · Score: 5, Funny
    Standford's Stanley, a VW Taureg run by 100000 lines of code can hit 40 mph

    I'll bet the teams from Harverd, Berkely and NIT are quaking in their boots.

    --

    Obliteracy: Words with explosions

  6. This is a darpa contest? by nizo · · Score: 5, Funny
    When do they start allowing contestant cars to carry guns/rockets/etc to take out other cars?

    In fact, this could be a whole new brand of reality show: a few dozen death row inmates are released, followed minutes later by "smart cars with guns" that chase them down. Last inmate alive gets a pardon.

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    I Am My Own Worst Enemy
  7. No gas? by slapout · · Score: 4, Funny

    run by 100000 lines of code

    Wow. A car that runs on computer code instead of gas? That's great! Now I can program myself home.

    (Wonder how I'll pay attention to the road while I write code though....)

    --
    Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
  8. Re:The worlds most boring race by jeblucas · · Score: 5, Funny
    Machine moves 10 feet, stops.
    Moves 5 feet, stops.
    Moves 40 feet, stops.
    Turns 10 degrees.
    Turns 15 degrees.
    Moves 10 feet, stops.
    Apparently it took 100,000 lines of code because it's written in Logo.
    FORWARD 5
    FORWARD 40
    RIGHT 10
    RIGHT 15
    FORWARD 10
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    blarg.
  9. The Mars rover would benifit rather a lot from thi by rucs_hack · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The principle challenge here is effective navigation of difficult terrain. The Mars rovers are extremely slow, manually driven, (albeit by extreme time delay), and it takes a *lot* of skilled people to keep one going. If autonomous vehicle technology is significantly improved, then the effect on the the mars exploration program would be vast. And actually the desert scenario is pretty close to the problems found on mars: Sandstorms rocks sand more sand holes Imagine Mars being explored with ten (or more) completelly autonomous and robust vehicles scooting around looking for interesting features. That would rock.