June 23, 2007
Sebastian in the News Again
Sebastian Thrun, who led Stanford to the winning run in the DARPA Grand Challenge is in the news again, this time preparing for the DARPA Urban Challenge. They have developed a new car, Junior, which is based on a Volkswagen Passat, and has quite a few more sensors than Stanley had.
A robotic automotive vehicle — which, Thrun says, would "combine the convenience of a train with the convenience of a car" — is a long way from commercial viability. But the Stanford Racing Team will put a driverless Volkswagen Passat wagon named Junior to the test in November in the 2007 Urban Challenge, sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon's research arm.
Junior's predecessor, a modified VW Touareg sport utility vehicle called Stanley, won the 2005 Grand Challenge race in the Nevada desert. This year, Junior and 52 competitors must master far more than pure speed.
The Urban Challenge will be a 60-mile test of city driving, replete with intersections, rights-of-way, stop signs, lane changes and that most annoying variable: traffic.
Keep your eyes on this, as the competition should be exciting.
Posted by elkaim at June 23, 2007 8:17 PM