GM and Carnegie Mellon get together on driverless vehicles
If you're really looking forward to the day when your car says, "You just relax, Dave, and let me do the driving," it just got a little bit closer. GM and Carnegie Mellon University have announced a 5-year, $5 million Collaborative Research Laboratory (CRL) to do work on autonomous vehicles.
Carnegie Mellon's Tartan Racing entrant in last year's DARPA Urban Challenge, Boss (pictured), was the first across the line. The winning partnership and the $2 million winners check made it a natural fit for the two to combine on further research now that the major technical issues have been mostly addressed. The two parties also have another CRL, separate from the autonomous research, that has been going on for eight years.
The autonomous research will be focused on developing the underlying technologies for autonomous vehicles. According to Professor Rajkumar, "Autonomous vehicles will change the face of transportation by reducing deaths and injuries from automobile accidents and increasing the convenience and comfort of vehicles." Until they become self aware and decide to take over the Skynet system, at least...
[Source: GM]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
al 8:53AM (6/20/2008)
CMU represent!
GM and CMU have been doing research together for a long time .... hopefully this stuff for autonomous vehicles can actually become practical reality ...
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Von Pinto 9:06AM (6/20/2008)
Yinz goin' dahn-ehr Primanti's tuh see that car 'at aint got no driver n'at!
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Iridium 9:53AM (6/20/2008)
Yep exactly, damn Primanti Bros. Unlce Sams is better.
Anyway, this stuff has been going on for a long long time at CMU. To people around the area, seeing a driverless car isn't a shock anymore.
What was a shock was seeing red lights, Nazi, and Russian Communist propoganda films being shown on the side of a main building. Just an art project to show th epower of propoganda films but the residents of Squirrel Hill were not too happy.
If there ever is a giant robot to take over humanity it will come from CMU. MIT likes small robots, they would be robotic ant overlords.
Von Pinto 9:10AM (6/20/2008)
How'm I 'spose tuh git dahn Donnie Iris 'f I ain't got no driver 'n my car?!
All joking aside, I'm glad that CMU has been so involved in these projects. This type of research can really open some doors.
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azzo45 9:49AM (6/20/2008)
This partnership has NOTHING to do with GM's desire to give the public cars that drive themselves! Its research aimed at the Defense Department. War is a much easier sell if you don't lose soldiers
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Pacman 9:49AM (6/20/2008)
Say goodbye to DUI!
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DCragtop 10:04AM (6/20/2008)
No thank you....'I' prefer to drive my car or hire a driver if need be. iRobot my foot. Get away from me you evil robots!!!
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DesiAuto 10:19AM (6/20/2008)
waste of money and time...
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Car running on water is a better research project.
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JerryL 10:41AM (6/20/2008)
More proof that lot's of good thing's are happening in the 'Burgh !! Now if we could get them to build some robots to pitch for the Pirates..........
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pd 11:09AM (6/20/2008)
@ Von Pinto, only us Burghers understand you, ya know GO STILLERS!
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1337 11:44AM (6/20/2008)
I know, I know this is a Tahoe, not a Suburban. Still, one of the few applications for this vehicle arises when someone has the desperate urge to send a GM SUV through a war zone (or Utah) without risking his own skin.
http://jalopnik.com/396044/do-not-drive-a-suburban-near-utahs-dugway-proving-ground
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MattKelly 12:07PM (6/20/2008)
This is actually part of GM's research into intelligent cars--V2V (vehicle to vehicle)communication is another example as is vehicle to road. In each instance the vehicle you are riding in is able to communicate with others on the roadway and the road itself to reduce collisions, clear the road for an approaching emergency vehicle, even help you avoid heavy traffic!
If you happen to think their are military applications, so be it. As a member of an army family, I would be happy if American lives were saved with this technology. Give them the best tools to do their jobs--hope they never have to use them--and elect officials who use war as a LAST resort, not as foreign policy.
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Lenny 1:07PM (6/20/2008)
As long as people will always have the option of driving themselves and controlling their own destiny fine, but if big brother is going to try to completely control the highways someday then this is technology that I hope never reaches the market.
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BrandonIT 2:42PM (6/20/2008)
As someone from the great state of Louisiana, where drunk driving is a way of life, I'm glad to see this. If you're too drunk, the car doesn't let you drive and takes you home instead. Very nice.
Driver gets home safe. Innocent people get home safe. Everyone wins.
Also, I've got better things to do on most mornings coming to work than watch the other idiots trying to put on makeup and read their paper. *I* want to read my paper too so let the cars do the driving.
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Rick 7:28PM (6/20/2008)
Cool. But the driverless vechile will be sitting on a lot because they won't be ABLE TO AFFORD THE GAS!!!
Why not spend the millions on creating a viable ALTERNATE FUEL!!!!
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