Seven months after a driver-less Volkswagen successfully drove itself over the rugged desert, the Pentagon is sponsoring another challenge for self-driving vehicles that can weave through congested city traffic without causing an accident.
The contest, to be held in November next year, will test the vehicles' ability to independently carry out a simulated military supply mission in an urban setting in less than six hours.
The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, created the latest challenge to spur development vehicles that could be used on the battlefield without any sort of remote control.
Participants will have to navigate a complex 97km test course in a yet-to-be-determined city filled with moving vehicles -- both manned and unmanned. The test course will be designed like a real city street where vehicles will have to make sharp turns, navigate intersections and avoid crashing into obstacles such as utility poles, trees and parked cars.
Equipped only with a computer brain and sensors, the participants will be graded on how well they can obey traffic laws, change lanes, merge with moving cars and pull into a parking lot.
The first vehicle that successfully completes the mission will win US$2 million.
Unlike previous DARPA contests, in which the winner takes all, second-place finishers will get US$500,000 while third place will receive US$250,000.
Last October, DARPA awarded US$2 million to a driver-less Volkswagen SUV, which beat out a field of 23 vehicles by traversing 212km of twisting desert and mountain terrain.
While the vehicles had to drive on rough road and dodge man-made obstacles, they did not have to drive in traffic.
"We believe the robotics community is ready to tackle vehicle operation inside city limits," DARPA director Tony Tether said in a statement.
Stanford University computer scientist Sebastian Thrun, who won last year's race, said he was excited to see DARPA take the challenge to the next level.
Thrun said the artificial intelligence knowledge gained from the contest could also benefit society by pushing the development of "smart cars" that can self-navigate on highways and potentially reduce accidents.
DARPA can choose to fund certain teams to build their vehicles. In turn, the agency will receive some licensing rights to the technology that's developed.
Or teams can raise their own money to build their vehicles. Either way, teams will face off in a semifinal match and the field will be winnowed down to compete in the final round.
DARPA -- faced with a congressional mandate to have a third of all military ground vehicles unmanned by 2015 -- created its first challenge in 2004 in the Mojave Desert. But the race ended without a winner when all the entrants broke down before the finish line.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
At least 35 people were killed and dozens more injured when a man plowed his car into pedestrians exercising around a sports center in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai on Monday night. Footage showing bodies lying on the pavement appeared on social media in the hours after the crash, but had vanished by early Tuesday morning, and local police reported only “injuries.” It took officials nearly 24 hours to reveal that dozens had died — in one of the country’s deadliest incidents in years. China heavily monitors social media platforms, where it is common for words and topics deemed
Typhoon Usagi yesterday had weakened into a tropical storm, but a land warning issued by the Central Weather Administration (CWA) was still in effect in four areas in southern Taiwan. As of 5pm yesterday, Tropical Storm Usagi was over waters 120km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the southernmost tip of Taiwan proper, and was moving north at 9kph, CWA data showed. The storm was expected to veer northeast later yesterday. It had maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126kph, the data showed. The CWA urged residents of Kaohsiung, Pingtung County, Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) to remain alert to
RSS