October 12, 2005
Stanford Wins the Grand Challenge
CONGRATULATIONS!!! and $2 Million go Stanford for winning the DARPA GRAND CHALLENGE, with an overall speed on the course of 19 MPH.
Several articles are all over this race, and the speed of progress from last year to this year is amazing. Last year, the best showing was 7 miles. This year, 21 of 23 racers went farther than 10.
Not so long ago, the notion of cars driving themselves seemed no more than science fiction. This weekend, it took a giant stride towards becoming reality as a handful of robotically controlled vehicles completed a 132-mile obstacle course around the Mojave desert.
Lured by a $2m (£1.15m) prize offered by the Pentagon, teams from some of the United States' leading universities threw themselves into the challenge and watched their souped-up four-wheel drives and military vehicles negotiate tunnels, lake beds, a steep mountain pass and numerous rocks.
First across the finish line was a converted Volkswagen Touareg developed by engineers from Stanord University - the prime research institution in Silicon Valley which was previously the springboard for many of the innovations of the internet.
"The impossible has been achieved," Stanford's team leader, Sebastian Thrun, crowed as the vehicle, nicknamed Stanley, completed the course in a brisk seven and a half hours. "The dream of cars driving themselves is becoming a reality. Before, the question was whether it was possible. Now we know it is."
Posted by elkaim at October 12, 2005 10:24 AM