NQE Test, Saturday, Oct. 27

Boss moved smartly out of its starting chute at 8:10 a.m. Pacific time Saturday, drove along the grandstands and out of the starting area as it began its first test run of the National Qualification Event. Team members, gathered atop the grandstands, craned their necks to catch glimpses of Boss as it negotiated a traffic circle and made a right turn, heading out of sight to what DARPA is calling Test Area B. It's a suburban-style housing section of what used to be George Air Force Base and DARPA is using it to test the ability of vehicles to navigate two-lane roads and parking lots.
About fifteen minutes later, Boss re-appeared at the grandstand area after successfully completing its run. In the pits a half hour later, a review by the team of Boss' onboard video confirmed that it had turned in an impressive first run. "That was an awesome performance," said Chris Urmson, director of technology.
It was another encouraging day at the NQE for Tartan Racing. On Friday afternoon, DARPA officials inspected and tested Boss's emergency stopping mechanism, the E-stop. The test was the same as the one during June's site visit in Pittsburgh and, as before, went off without a hitch. The team then spent some time doing calibration checks, practicing circumventions of traffic cones and performing other tests before retiring Boss for the day.
Boss will be back in action Sunday morning at Test Area A, a large parking lot where DARPA will test the robot's ability to handle traffic.— human-driven cars. Unlike Test Area B, all of Test Area A is visible to spectators.

tartanracing.org

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News & Politics

Tags:

• carnegie
• mellon
• tartan
• racing
• urban
• challenge
• cmu
• robotics
• boss

[tartanracing]

This edited video contains material shot during the test and of the team later reviewing the data from the on-board camera during their post-test meeting.

[peteavp]

That's my old neighborhood, 1986 - 1987! I could have used that car to get me back from the Officer's club!

[DantehMan]

I don't see any indication within the video description that Boss is computer-driven, so I could not have ascertained the information by myself. Don't assume I didn't read anything please.

[strandtc]

Umm.. do some reading... its a computer driven car.. no driver, no remote control. It only uses GPS, and onboard sensors to drive itself.

[DantehMan]

Tell me what's so special about this car except for the flashy lights and sounds?

[HenkPoley]

Congratulations with the first place on the DARPA urban challenge.