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you guys, i totally need one of these
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Autonomouse car comes in first place
By Mandy Kovach
Monday, October 10, 2005
Associated Press
The Stanford team's robotic car Stanley came in first at this year's DARPA Challenge.
The Stanford Racing Team’s driverless Volkswagen Touareg, fondly dubbed Stanley, braved the harsh terrain of the Mojave Desert, winning the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Grand Challenge, a race to develop fully autonomous vehicles, this past Saturday. Stanley completed the 132-mile course with a time of 6:53:08 — averaging over 19 miles per hour on the course — and bringing home the $2 million prize.
According to Computer Science Prof. Sebastian Thrun, the racing team’s project leader, this success not only means a lot in terms of defense technology, but it also changes the face of modern transportation.
“Cars will eventually drive themselves,” Thrun said in an interview with The Daily. “Over 43,000 people die in automobile accidents a year. Many lives will be saved with the future of autonomous vehicles. I think that within 50 years — maybe even 30 — we will see this new technology in our everyday lives.”
DARPA has sponsored the Grand Challenge since the first race — held in 2004 — with the goal of accelerating the development of autonomous vehicles. It is DARPA’s hope that this challenge will catalyze the research needed to meet a congressional mandate of converting 30 percent of the military’s vehicles into robots by 2015.
Already, drastic improvements have been made. Last year’s competition saw no car complete the course. This year, of the 23 finalists competing Saturday, five crossed the finish line. Carnegie Mellon’s Sandstorm Humvee finished in second place, almost 11 minutes behind Stanford’s vehicle.
Mike Montemerlo, in charge of Stanley’s software package, told The Los Angeles Times that what separated Stanford’s vehicle from the rest was both testing experience and software that gave Stanley the ability to make good spontaneous decisions.
“We spent the last two months in the desert in Arizona,” said Montemerlo, who is also a research associate working in the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab, said. He earned his Ph.D. in robotics at Carnegie Mellon University in 2003 and was cheering on CMU at the Grand Challenge last year.
“The team started the project here at Stanford last July,” Thrun said. Stanley operates using Global Positioning System sensors, a radar system, cameras and other features to help it detect its surroundings and maneuver around obstacles.
While Stanley will find a new home in a museum in Germany, research will certainly continue here at Stanford.
“Stanford is a top-notch engineering school, and this success will bring a lot to this university. It brings inspiration and excitement,” Thrun said. “We’re at a point in time similar to the first flight. No one thought it was possible. Challenging things can be done. And as an educator, I am eager to see this put into course materials, and used in the classroom. This is a very exciting time.”
here's the link:
click here to view pic (or go to the original article to view an enlarged version)
Autonomouse car comes in first place
By Mandy Kovach
Monday, October 10, 2005
Associated Press
The Stanford team's robotic car Stanley came in first at this year's DARPA Challenge.
The Stanford Racing Team’s driverless Volkswagen Touareg, fondly dubbed Stanley, braved the harsh terrain of the Mojave Desert, winning the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Grand Challenge, a race to develop fully autonomous vehicles, this past Saturday. Stanley completed the 132-mile course with a time of 6:53:08 — averaging over 19 miles per hour on the course — and bringing home the $2 million prize.
According to Computer Science Prof. Sebastian Thrun, the racing team’s project leader, this success not only means a lot in terms of defense technology, but it also changes the face of modern transportation.
“Cars will eventually drive themselves,” Thrun said in an interview with The Daily. “Over 43,000 people die in automobile accidents a year. Many lives will be saved with the future of autonomous vehicles. I think that within 50 years — maybe even 30 — we will see this new technology in our everyday lives.”
DARPA has sponsored the Grand Challenge since the first race — held in 2004 — with the goal of accelerating the development of autonomous vehicles. It is DARPA’s hope that this challenge will catalyze the research needed to meet a congressional mandate of converting 30 percent of the military’s vehicles into robots by 2015.
Already, drastic improvements have been made. Last year’s competition saw no car complete the course. This year, of the 23 finalists competing Saturday, five crossed the finish line. Carnegie Mellon’s Sandstorm Humvee finished in second place, almost 11 minutes behind Stanford’s vehicle.
Mike Montemerlo, in charge of Stanley’s software package, told The Los Angeles Times that what separated Stanford’s vehicle from the rest was both testing experience and software that gave Stanley the ability to make good spontaneous decisions.
“We spent the last two months in the desert in Arizona,” said Montemerlo, who is also a research associate working in the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Lab, said. He earned his Ph.D. in robotics at Carnegie Mellon University in 2003 and was cheering on CMU at the Grand Challenge last year.
“The team started the project here at Stanford last July,” Thrun said. Stanley operates using Global Positioning System sensors, a radar system, cameras and other features to help it detect its surroundings and maneuver around obstacles.
While Stanley will find a new home in a museum in Germany, research will certainly continue here at Stanford.
“Stanford is a top-notch engineering school, and this success will bring a lot to this university. It brings inspiration and excitement,” Thrun said. “We’re at a point in time similar to the first flight. No one thought it was possible. Challenging things can be done. And as an educator, I am eager to see this put into course materials, and used in the classroom. This is a very exciting time.”
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