| While the SUV may be falling out of favor as gas | | | | finished quickest - since the vehicles performed so |
| prices continue to climb, the Chevy Tahoe is taking | | | | well, the final judgment came down to who had the |
| matters into its own hands (or wheels?). Recently, | | | | fastest time. For Boss's victory, Carnegie Mellon |
| the vehicle crossed the finish line of a 55-mile race | | | | received as $2-million cash award from DARPA. |
| with an empty driver seat. Of course, that Tahoe - | | | | Second-place finisher Stanford received $1 million, and |
| nicknamed "Boss" - had been robotized by the Tartan | | | | the third-place team from Virginia Tech received |
| Racing team from Carnegie Mellon University. | | | | $500,000. |
| Boss made history when it was named the winner of | | | | Boss was developed by Tartan Racing, a team made |
| the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency | | | | up of Carnegie Mellon faculty, staff and students |
| (DARPA) Urban Challenge. Competing against eleven | | | | from the School of Computer Science's Robotics |
| other robotic vehicles on the nearly sixty-mile course, | | | | Institute, and the university's College of Engineering. |
| Boss used a combination of Light Detection and | | | | Also part of the team were engineers from General |
| Ranging (LIDAR), radar, vision and Global Positions | | | | Motors (GM), Caterpillar, Continental and Intel. The |
| System (GPS) technology to "see" the road, and | | | | team believes one of its major advantages in the |
| navigate itself to the finish line. Boss can recognize | | | | DARPA Challenge was a software system it |
| road geometry, perceive traffic and obstacles, and | | | | developed called TROCS, which produced graphic |
| use algorithms and software to figure out where it's | | | | animations of Boss's sensor and data inputs as it |
| safe to drive. During the DARPA challenge, the | | | | drove. This software allowed the Tartan Racing team |
| robotic car faced stop signs, intersections and busy | | | | to understand what Boss saw as it drove and how it |
| traffic areas that it had to figure out how to get | | | | reacted to it. Through this system, troublesome |
| around - while still complying with California (where | | | | behaviors could be easily identified and adjusted. |
| the event was held) traffic laws. The vehicle also had | | | | GM donated the Chevy Tahoe to Tartan Racing for |
| to change lanes, merge with moving cars and pull into | | | | use in the project. In addition to its sponsorship of |
| a parking lot. | | | | Carnegie Mellon's Tartan Racing team, GM is working |
| Of the eleven cars that competed, six crossed the | | | | with the university on autonomous driving |
| finish line. While "Junior", a vehicle created by a team | | | | technologies through its collaborative research |
| from Stanford, was the first finisher with a time of | | | | laboratory. According to Alan Taub, GM executive |
| just over four hours, Boss finished only minutes later | | | | director of research and development, collaboration |
| - but started twenty minutes behind Junior. The | | | | with universities and supplier partners is vital to the |
| vehicles were not allowed to go any faster than 15 | | | | development of this technology. The company hopes |
| miles per hour and they had a six-hour time limit. | | | | eventually the technology can be used to help |
| While the initial criteria was based on which vehicle did | | | | eliminate the most common cause of car crashes - |
| the best job of navigating the course - not who | | | | driver error. |