DARPA Robot Car Challenge
Just imagine a day when you get ready to go to work, you get in your car and read a newspaper while your car is taking you to the workplace. You don’t have to worry about common traffic problems such as traffic congestion or other cars that might cause a wreck because the job is being done instead by a special computer which monitors and analyzes the situation.
The International Herald Tribune reports that DARPA’s Urban Challenge Race which took place in Victorville, California, is trying to make all that a reality.
Members of a Carnegie Mellon University-based team of engineers and their tricked-out, driverless sport utility vehicle won $2 million (1.4 million euro) for their victory in a Pentagon-sponsored robot race in the Southern California desert, race officials announced.
[...]
Guided by cameras, lasers and a sophisticated on-board computer, the team’s sport utility vehicle merged with moving cars “some piloted by stunt drivers” navigated traffic circles and avoided obstacles at an average speed of 14 mph (23 kph), DARPA Urban Challenge program manager Norman Whitaker said Sunday.
“They did everything right: followed all the speed laws, stopped at the intersections,” Whitaker said. “It was really a phenomenal performance.”
[...]
The urban road race was the third robotic competition bankrolled by DARPA, which faces a congressional deadline to have one-third of its military ground combat vehicles unmanned by 2015.
Wired Magazine also comments on the race.
It’s only one step from there to cars that can drive themselves on highways. “Right now it’s not allowed by law to do that,” says Darms, a Continental Automotive Systems engineer . “But in future days we will see that, I’m pretty sure.” And then, says Darms, “You can really relax on your four hour drive.”
So reading all the information above I want to hope that by giving control to computers we will not regret it in the future. No one can say that there will not be someone crazy who will try to hack all that system and make the biggest wreck ever. On the other hand, FOX News reports that over 40.000 people die in traffic accidents every year in the United States, so maybe Robot Cars will decrease that number.
No related posts.