PBS goes NOVA on VW's autonomous Touareg
Since ESPN passed on airing the DARPA Grand Challenge in its entirety last October, we’re grateful that PBS is picking up the slack. The esoterically excellent NOVA program will air “The Great Robot Race” tonight on PBS at 8PM EST, in which the winning VW Touareg named “Stanley” fielded by Stanford University will be showcased along with technological innovations from the other 22 contenders it creamed on its way to the crown.
Autoblog posted a bunch on the race as it was happening, most of which you can find here. Although you can bet our TiVo’s are set to tape tonight as we want to see what the future of motorsports looks like with our own eyes.
[Source: Volkswagen]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Gunnar Heinrich 3:55PM (3/28/2006)
This is an eery concept. I wonder how long it will be until we have true "cruise control" in our cars.
http://www.automobilesdeluxe.blogspot.com
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justme 4:53PM (3/28/2006)
Nice reminder! I heard about it last week, but didn't remember it is on tonight.
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Konrad 5:49PM (3/28/2006)
I can't understand why SAE, the Society of Automotive Engineers doesn't get involved in this. If they were truly relevant to the industry they'd be leading events like this one instead of putting on their tier three trinket show (SAE World Congress) in Detroit.
This country needs more and better engineers. And we need an organization that better promotes what we do have.
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small-wee-wee 9:12PM (3/28/2006)
I really enjoyed the show.
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Josh Chang 12:01AM (3/29/2006)
Carnegie Mellon University's Red Team's two robots (the Red Hummer in the picture) were off by around 10 minutes from Stanley in 7 hour race. I wouldn't call it creamed. That's why journalists and bloggers have to check the source.
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Big Poppa Chuck 12:22PM (3/29/2006)
It was a great show and NOVA did a great job building the suspense. I hadn't read or seen anything on the race before last night and was glad to see Stanley win since he was truely the autonomous vehicle. The two reds were highly programmed with GPS points added as often as possible throughout the course (between the ones provided). The highlight of the show was the video made from Stanley during the race showing where it recognized the Red in front of it as an obstruction and went around it. These types of contests are fantastic and I must say I'm jealous of those smart enough to compete in them.
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