More than 90 teams have signed up for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Urban Challenge, in which automated cars have to complete a 60-mile course of urban traffic in under six hours.
Cash prizes of $2m, $1m and $500,000 are up for grabs for the first, second and third-placed teams.
The competition is an extension of the earlier Darpa challenge involving a 142-mile course over desert and scrubland completed in under eight hours.
“The Urban Challenge is quickly approaching,” said Dr Norman Whitaker, Urban Challenge programme manager at Darpa.
“With less than a year until the National Qualification Event, teams will soon begin road-testing their vehicles.”
The first ever robotic car challenge was a wash out, and none of the cars made it more than seven miles without crashing. Some of the entrants made it less than a mile.
The goal of both challenges is to automate systems for military and commercial use. The US Army wants a quarter of its transport division automated by 2030.
Source:
Vunet.com
Related Links:
Darpa Urban Challenge
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