Urban road race to test limits of robotic cars
In what sounds like a science fair project on steroids, engineers at Stanford University plan to have an unmanned robot car ready to navigate urban traffic in less than a year.
The car, a 2006 Volkswagen Passat wagon dubbed Junior, is Stanford's newest competitor in a high-stakes road race sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the U.S. Department of Defense's research and development arm.
The Stanford car will compete in the agency's third and most challenging derby -- the DARPA Urban Challenge, in which robotic cars will drive in a mock city environment. Cars must merge, navigate traffic, traverse busy intersections, avoid obstacles and master the most delicate of skills -- determining who has the right of way.
