Self-Driving Cars

Free of drivers or remote control, a handful of cars, vans and SUVs guided only by on-board computers will drive a closed, urban course, bypassing obstacles and each other in a race later this year.

The race, which will take place on November 3, demonstrates how these unmanned vehicles help the United States military safely operate supply missions.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Grand Challenge is a competition in which teams from around the country conceive, design and implement autonomous vehicles capable of driving themselves.

In 2004 and 2005, the grand challenge involved driving up to 150 miles in desert environments, at speeds of up to 40 miles per hour. The third grand challenge race, the Urban Challenge, will involve driving up to 60 miles on city streets, including interacting with other (autonomous) vehicles.

The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) will participate in the race with their latest vehicle, "Alice." Key features of "Alice" include a highly sensory-driven approach to fuse sensor data into speed maps used by real-time trajectory optimization algorithms, health and contingency management algorithms to manage failures at the component and system level, and a multi-threaded, networked control architecture that enables plug- and-play operations and testing.

In the last grand challenge, held in 2005, an automated vehicle named Stanley from Stanford University claimed a $2 million military-sponsored prize by completing a 132-mile desert course with no help from humans.

---LiveScience Staff

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Credit: Caltech