History in Motion
In just under six hours, a army of automobiles will descend upon Victorville, California to race across a 60 mile urban course. Not for the filming of another “Fast and the Furious” flick, or an impromptu rally race, but something a little more historic: in this competition, the contestants have more in common with an android than Andretti. No flesh-and-blood motorists are at work here, only serious supercomputing power. It’s the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge!
Two years have passed since the last Grand Challenge, which saw a host of robotic cars negotiate a dusty desert, but today’s event requires them to behave just as a licensed driver would. If any of the race crews are successful, we could see automated troop transports and MEDEVAC vehicles helping soldiers around the world very soon, with obvious applications for your commute down the road (no pun intended). Catch the webcast of the race and watch the future roll forward!
tags: darpa, grand-challenge
Posted by Jamie
I welcome my fellow commuting robot overlords…but only if they can talk on a cell phone, read the paper, and apply eye shadow while driving along side me.