Boss NQE Test, Sunday, Oct. 28 - Darpa Urban Challenge

Boss delivered another strong performance on Day 2 of the NQE. The test assessed the ability to handle cross traffic and oncoming traffic and to make safe left turns across moving traffic. The test is a variation of 'chicken' from the old days of hot-rodding, but this is played out with robots and humans sharing the road. A dozen human drivers created dense, two-way traffic and Boss found its way through it. Boss had to find gaps, choose opportunities to enter and cross traffic, and make its way around a 'belt-buckle' shaped course.
Boss completed 16 circuits of the course in the allotted 25 minutes. That is best-yet, but more is possible, and some great competitors have not yet run this. The next-best performance so far is 11 circuits scored by Virginia Tech.
"All in all, it looked like the vehicle did a kickass job out there," Chris Urmson, director of technology, told the team when it gathered for a post-run briefing.
During the test, Boss had to cross the belt-buckle on the center road while human traffic flowed continuously at every turn and every intersection. Boss had to repeatedly read and shoot the gaps. Too much boldness and Boss would disrupt traffic. Too much hesitation and opportunities disappear.
A perimeter of jersey barriers encroach on the outer lane, so the course is tight and unforgiving -- traffic or no traffic. The lanes are only 11-feet wide (versus the standard 14 feet), so Boss had to thread the gap between oncoming traffic and the rail.
Boss made the turns across traffic without incident and drove aggressively so it could complete the 16 laps in the allotted time. The run was not without flaws. Human drivers gave Boss a horn or two. Several times, it stopped abruptly as it was driving along the jersey barrier and approaching the end of the oval. At one point, it stopped short of the turn point at the middle of oval and, at the request of the team, DARPA officials momentarily paused Boss. At another point, Boss knicked a curb to avert oncoming traffic. Team leader Red Whittaker commented that "The belt-buckle is an unnervingly difficult event. We are thrilled that Boss drove well and survived crash-free. This wasn't perfection, just best-of-class so far."
The team is analyzing these and other minor incidents to make adjustments. It is likely that Boss will face other tests on this same belt-buckle course during the week.
It was the second strong performance for Boss. Two other teams - MIT and Germany's Team Carolo -- have completed the long, narrow, winding roads with parked cars and other obstructions in Test Area B that Boss aced on Saturday.
Tomorrow, Tartan Racing will complete the first round of NQE testing at Test Area C, where vehicles display their ability for tight maneuvering, handling four-way intersections and finding alternate ways to reach blocked goals.

more at tartanracing.org

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• carnegie
• mellon
• darpa
• urban
• challenge
• nqe
• boss
• gm
• continental
• caterpillar
• whittaker
• cmu
• robotics
• autnomous

[sebastian2508]

sure because mostly of the fatal accidents are not human error, right ?

come on , "flesh and bones" are the reason of my fear in the streets of any city...

[mtiberio54]

these will save lives on the battlefield, when humans don't have to drive supply trucks and risk getting blown up by roadside IEDs. Also the could be used to work (plow, reap) large argo-biz type farms...

[TheDreamCavalcade]

@tommy9922 thats a way better way i think, sure computers have their uses but at one point humans must be involved, after all, the best computer of all time will always be the one we are born with

[tommy9922]

@TheDreamCavalcade: The important thing is to push this driverless technology as far as possible in the experimental phase. Eventually, society will decide which of the components it can safely deploy and to what extent humans can remain in the mix.

[TheDreamCavalcade]

@sebastian2508 humans though are a smart and dumb mix, if a machine is designed wrong they all crash

at least I don't need to download new software when the unexpected happens

obviously you've never had to rely on a smart machine

[TheDreamCavalcade]

@LightAge2007 LOL!

[LightAge2007]

well at that point we would just use people again and what if a computer error made a sam launcher hit a school or an occupied building or drove into a crowd of people

I think we should just stop this robot madness before we pay out the ass

[aversion2k]

But thats a good thing right

"Hey guys, wars off, robots are all honking and driving into walls, Guess we'll just have to work it out diplomatically"

[LightAge2007]

war is pointless any to and the computers would mess up anyway

[HalfMooner]

In Iraq, many truck drivers are killed by roadside bombs, when simply delivering food and supplies to troops. Better they blow up a computer guidance system than a human brain.

[LightAge2007]

yeah right I don't see that happening it takes humans to run a war, whats a robot car gonna do? honk at the enimy troops?

LOL

[LightAge2007]

you fuckin crazy