We were delighted to hear that the CMU robot car “Boss”
won the DARPA Urban Challenge last weekend. We watched several
hours of the race from Baker Hall at CMU on
3 November 2007 during our Parents’ Weekend visit with
Jessica. Even though
Stanford University’s “Junior” car crossed the finish line first with CMU
Tartan Racing a few minutes behind, since the cars had staggered
start times, CMU’s “Boss” actually finished the course about 20 minutes ahead of
the second-place Stanford. By lunchtime yesterday,
we were told that CMU was the probable winner on points. Then, DARPA’s
press release yesterday confirmed that CMU’s “Boss” car had turned in the
top performance points and won the $2 million cash prize as the first-place winner.
CMU’s victory over the 2005 race winner Stanford was sweet.
The race was not just about speed since the bots had six hours to navigate over 60 miles
of urban streets in Victorville following California driving laws, operating in a
safe and stable manner, and completing three missions with six parts each. Good
driving counted. DARPA’s
description of the Urban Challenge:
-
The DARPA Urban Challenge is an autonomous vehicle research and development program
with the goal of developing technology that will keep warfighters off the battlefield
and out of harm’s way. The Urban Challenge features autonomous ground vehicles
maneuvering in a mock city environment, executing simulated military supply missions
while merging into moving traffic, navigating traffic circles, negotiating busy
intersections, and avoiding obstacles. …
This program is an outgrowth of two previous DARPA Grand Challenge autonomous vehicle competitions. The first Grand Challenge event was held in March 2004 and featured a 142-mile desert course. Fifteen autonomous ground vehicles attempted the course and no vehicle finished. In the 2005 Grand Challenge, four autonomous vehicles successfully completed a 132-mile desert route under the required 10-hour limit, and DARPA awarded a $2 million prize to “Stanley” from Stanford University.
Despite the military context of the race itself, and the inclusion of two cars
from Germany in the
11 finalists, all six cars which finished the Urban Challenge were from
US universities: CMU, Stanford, Virginia Tech, Cornell, Univ. of Pennsylvania and
Lehigh University, and MIT.
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