It's not just the vehicle or the University that wins this race, but the sponsors that help out. Caterpillar is known for heavy equipment, but what most people don't realize is that they are heavy into technology as well. Caterpillar is helping Team Oshkosh, Tartan racing (Carnegie Mellon) and Victor Tango (Virginia Tech). Listen as [...]
DARPA ANNOUNCES 36 SEMI-FINALISTS FOR URBAN CHALLENGE Autonomous Vehicle Competition to be held in Victorville, Calif.(Anaheim, Calif.) “ Dr. Tony Tether, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), today announced the 36 teams (list attached) selected as semi-finalists for the Urban Challenge. The semi-finalists will next compete in the Urban Challenge National Qualification [...]
The DARPA Grand Challenge Sebastian Thrun, Professor of Computer Science, Stanford, and Mike Montemerlo, Technical Director, Stanford Racing Team, discuss how they felt Stanford did in the 4 different tests for the 2007 Darpa Urban Challenge. Stanford passed all 4, but had to redo one due to a technicality involving cones. From wikipedia.org: The DARPA [...]
Norm Whitaker, Program Manager, DARPA, wraps up the day in Mountain View, California. Norm also answers some questions from the press, most involving the history of Darpa, and how it came to be. From darpa.mil The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was established in 1958 as the first U.S. response to the Soviet launching [...]
Volkswagen Electronics Research Lab Ganymed Stanek, Volkswagen of America, Inc., Electronics Research Lab, talks about Volkswagen's partnership with Stanford, inside of an unmanned Volkswagen Passat. Volkswagen worked with Stanford on Stanley, Stanford's first car that won the race in 2005, winning Stanford 2 million dollars. Keep in mind, nobody is actually driving the car. From [...]
Louis Nastro, MA, MS, Director Land Products, Applanix Corporation, talks about their relationship with Stanford for the 2007 Darpa Urban Challenge, and what is integrated into Junior. Most notably, however, is the unit's GPS, which allows the car to run for up to an hour with no signal. From applanix.com: Applanix is the industry leader [...]
2007 Darpa Urban Challenge Jeff Walz, Director of University Relations, Google, talks about Google, and their relationship with sponsoring University-led projects. Google funds two teams for the 2007 Darpa Urban Challenge, Stanford, and Carnegie Mellon, who coincidently, have a rivalry going. From wikipedia.org: The DARPA Grand Challenge is a prize competition for driverless cars, sponsored [...]
Hendrik Dahlkamp, Software Engineer, Google, talks about the software that operates Junior. From GPS, to a 64 laser positioning system, this machine is packed full of cutting edge software, programmed by Stanford. From darpa.mil: Team List Team 23 Racing San Diego, Calif. Team Annie Way Karlsruhe, Germany Austin Robot Technology Austin, Texas Team Autonomous Solutions [...]
Grand Challenge versus Urban challenge Sebastian Thrun, Professor of Computer Science, Stanford, talks about the different challenges between previous Grand Challenges, and the current Urban Challenge. Thrun also discusses the financing behind the car, and how they received most of their money. From wikipedia.org: Sebastian Thrun, (born 1967 in Solingen, Germany) is an Associate Professor [...]
Stanford Racing Team Sebastian Thrun, Associate Professor, Mike Montemerlo, Technical Director, Stanford Racing Team, talks about the qualifying event for Stanford's autonomous vehicle "Junior", in Mountain View, California. 53 teams in total will compete, this being one of Darpa's first stops along the way. From stanford.edu: Junior is a 2006 Passat wagon whose steering, throttle, [...]