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GM-powered Carnegie Mellon team take first prize at DARPA

Damon Lavrinc — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 02:39:00 EST

After the DARPA dust settled, only 40 minutes separated the first, second and third place contenders for this year's $2 million bounty. The Carnegie Mellon team, behind the virtual wheel of a tech'd-out Tahoe dubbed the "Boss," won the DARPA Urban Challenge, the first event held in a mock city environment.

The Mellon crew beat out Stanford, Virginia Tech and MIT, and according to Wired's report, none of the top competitors were cited for traffic violations - something that most manned vehicles can't claim. Average speeds ranged from 13 to 14 mph over the course of the 55-mile trek. There was no mention of top speed and we're still uncertain about what specific obstacles were set out to befuddled the ghosts inside the machine.

There's no word yet on whether the DARPA event will continue, as many maintain that since the technical end of things have been sorted, it's time for private firms to take the lead. We'll have more on DARPA when Mr. McElroy reports on the event later in the week.

[Sources: GM (Press Release after the jump), Wired]

Continue reading GM-powered Carnegie Mellon team take first prize at DARPA

GM-powered Carnegie Mellon team take first prize at DARPA originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 05 Nov 2007 02:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MIT entering driverless Land Rover LR3 in DARPA Urban Challenge

John Neff — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:34:00 EST

Filed under: SUV, Etc., Technology, Land Rover

The 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge is mere weeks away, and the top tier teams are readying to do battle on a yet-to-be-disclosed course in Victorville, CA. The event will take place November 3rd at the former George Air Force Base, and we'll have our own celebrity blogger, John McElroy, on hand to take pics and report back. Though many teams are entered, a select few from major universities are considered serious contenders for the $2 million grand prize. They include last year's winner Stanford who is entering a Volkswagen Passat Wagon named 'Junior', perennial runner-up powerhouse Carnegie Mellon featuring a driverless Chevy Tahoe, and the MIT team that's going upscale with an autonomous Land Rover LR3.

Land Rover decided to show off the entrant today releasing this pic of the vehicle in all its geeky glory. Though the DARPA Grand Challenge event is meant to showcase technologies that could ultimately lead to autonomous vehicles on public roads, one look at the number of sensors on the MIT entrant would likely make a Land Rover designer pass out and a potential customer run for the hills. Equipped with GPS, the MIT LR3 uses LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) range finders to whisker its way through uncharted environments. Until all this equipment can be scaled down for mass consumption, these vehicles will remain as merely impractical proof that safe and reliable autonomous driving is at least possible.
Before the event takes place two weekends from now, those teams that have made it this far will participate in a National Qualification Event this weekend to further weed out the autonomous wannabes from the legitimate contenders. We fully expect Standford's 'Junior', Carnegie Mellon's Tahoe and the MIT LR3 to make it through to the final event where Mr. McElroy will be ready cover the final outcome.

[Source: Land Rover]

Continue reading MIT entering driverless Land Rover LR3 in DARPA Urban Challenge

MIT entering driverless Land Rover LR3 in DARPA Urban Challenge originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 22 Oct 2007 15:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Team LUX readies sleek Passat TDI for DARPA Urban Challenge

John Neff — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 20:03:00 EST

Filed under: Wagon, Etc., Technology, Volkswagen

The upcoming DARPA Urban Challenge set to take place this fall will be an extraordinary test of autonomous systems being developed for automotive applications. Previous DARPA challenges contained entrants with all sorts of hardcore, computer-powered gear littering their exteriors. Giant rotating satellite dishes and rows of rooftop-mounted infrared cameras were a common site. The same will likely be true of many vehicle's entered in this fall's Urban Challenge, but one team will be fielding this rather sleek and normal-looking Volkswagen Passat TDI wagon.

Developed by Team LUX, which is sponsored and staffed by a company called Sick and its Ibeo automotive division, the LUX car will have just two laser sensors located up front and one in back to help it blindly navigate the Urban Challenge course. The team says despite the lack of ostentatious gear, its minimalist approach will still provide a full 360 degress of detection. The real test will be whether the Team LUX car parks itself on top of an undetected fire hydrant during the competition. AutoblogGreen will be on-site at the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge to bring us reports on which cars can successfuly operate without a master.

[Source: Engadget]

Team LUX readies sleek Passat TDI for DARPA Urban Challenge originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 22 Mar 2007 20:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2007 DARPA Grand Challenge - cash prizes are out, trophies are in

Stuart Waterman — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 15:24:00 EST

Filed under: Gadgets, Etc.

Every week, in garages around the world, amateur racers spend their hard-earned day-job dollars repairing and improving all sorts of racecars, with one goal in mind - winning a tacky plastic trophy on the weekend. Now the U.S. government has honored that hallowed tradition, announcing that the robot drivers in the upcoming 2007 DARPA Grand Challenge will forgo the $2 million cash prize previously promised to the winner, in exchange for - a trophy! (Probably a mil-spec trophy that they'll pay too much for, but still.)

Actually, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency isn't trying to save money (taxpayers should be so lucky). Congress recently changed the rules for the Department of Defense, and it no longer has the authority to award cash prizes.

Robot fans needn't be too concerned about a lack of entries for next year's event - the eleven "Track A" teams selected this month for the 2007 Urban Challenge will each receive from DARPA up to $1 million in technology development funding, in addition to the support of their corporate sponsors. The A-teams include last year's winner Stanford University and perennial contenders Carnegie-Mellon University, as well as big-time defense contractors Raytheon and Honeywell.

"Track B" teams, which receive no funding from DARPA, can still earn their way into the final competition for the DARPA mugs by successfully completing qualifying events. The Urban Challenge final event requires competitors to safely complete a 60-mile simulated urban area course (in traffic) in under six hours.

[via engadget]

2007 DARPA Grand Challenge - cash prizes are out, trophies are in originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 05 Oct 2006 15:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Carnegie Mellon and GM entering driverless Tahoe in next DARPA

John Neff — Thu, 31 Aug 2006 16:24:00 EST

Filed under: Etc., Technology, GM

Remember William "Red" Whittaker? He is the ex-marine turned college prof that competed in both the 2004 and 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge with a pair of autonomous H1 HUMMERs named H1ghlander and Sandstorm. Unfortunately for Red, neither HUMMER was able to beat Stanley, the autonomous Volkswagen Touareg from Standard, in last year's challenge that actually saw competitors finish the course for the first time.

Things might be different at next year's DARPA Urban Challenge in which vehicles will have to autonomously pilot themselves through a 60-mile urban course. Red and his team at Carnegie Mellon University will partner with General Motors this year to form Tartan Racing and field a driverless Tahoe as their entrant. Not only does Carnegie Mellon get the free SUV to use, the team will be composed of researchers from both the university and GM. The automaker sees the sponsorship as the fastest way to advance the research and development of future driving aid technologies, while we get the feeling that Red and the college boys just want to beat the pants off of Stanford next year.

[Source: GM]

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Carnegie Mellon and GM entering driverless Tahoe in next DARPA originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 31 Aug 2006 16:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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