[gui-talk] another autonomous navigating vehicle

[Hoffman, Allen]

It would be interesting to see it come down that fast too.

Driver-less car in high-speed rally assault
November 2, 2009 by Rob Gloster 

Imagine driving at top speed on a steep, winding mountain pass in the
Alps, or the Himalayas, or the Rocky Mountains. 

Now, take your hands off the 
steering wheel
 and cover your eyes. Or grab a camera and take some pictures of the
snowy mountain peaks. Or send a text message to a friend describing the
scenery.

You'd skid off the road and plunge into a deep ravine within seconds,
right?

Not if a group of graduate students at Stanford University can program
the car to drive itself.

The mechanical engineering students are creating an autonomous -- or
driverless -- car that they plan to race up and down the treacherous
Pikes Peak highway
in the Rocky Mountains next year.

The vehicle is the latest creation of a Stanford team, funded in part by
Volkswagen, that in recent years has won awards for speed and
manoeuvrability in
competitions among unmanned cars.

The students say programming a car to run by itself up a curving
mountain road is more than simply an engineering exercise -- it's a way
of creating and
testing safety systems they hope one day will be used in all vehicles.

"If we can design a car that can autonomously go up Pikes Peak, we can
design a car that can take over when a driver falls asleep," said
Kirstin Talvala,
one of the students.

The car being programmed for the mountain run is an Audi TTS. It has
been named "Shelley" in homage to former French rally driver Michele
Mouton, who in
1985 became the first woman to win the Pikes Peak race in Colorado.

Shelley would not be the first autonomous car to climb Pikes Peak, a
challenging 12.4-mile (20-kilometre) ascent that includes 156 turns and
ends more than
14,000 feet (4,300 meters) above sea level.

But those earlier unmanned cars went at about 25 mph (40 kph), while the
Stanford team plans to run Shelley -- whose top speed in the desert is
130 mph
(208 kph) -- at close to race speed.

Winning drivers in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, which has
been run each summer since 1916, have come close to breaking the
10-minute mark in
recent years. 

Japan's Nobuhiro Tajima has won the last four years, while earlier
winners have included American Mario Andretti. 

Except for a couple of mushroom-like knobs on its roof, Shelley looks
just like any white Audi TTS. It has a standard engine that runs on
regular fuel,
as well as standard brakes and steering systems and a black leather
interior. 

The big difference is in the trunk, which is filled with computer gear
and a 100,000 dollar GPS system.

Shelley's software is developed at Stanford's Dynamic Design Lab, which
is run by mechanical engineering professor Chris Gerdes. The lab looks
like a hybrid
between a college classroom and a Formula 1 pit garage, with tyres
sitting beside laptops. A red Ferrari flag hangs from the ceiling.

Gerdes got his masters in robotics, then became increasingly interested
in cars. He rebuilt the engine of his Chevy Cavalier while getting his
doctorate
in 1996, then worked on heavy trucks for Daimler before joining the
Stanford faculty. Gerdes teaches machine design and control systems, and
working on
car projects has now become his full-time focus.

"In the long term, I think we can look ahead to cars that won't crash.
Can we avoid all accidents? That's really where this work is heading,"
Gerdes said.

"I think it's going to be a big challenge, because people seem to be
doing things other than driving in their cars."

The team of four graduate students includes some from a more theoretical
background, such as Talvala, but also car enthusiasts such as Krisada
Kritayakirana
-- a Thai native who grew up dreaming of being a race car driver and
then moved into automotive engineering. He got his masters at Cambridge
before joining
England's Lotus Cars.

He then sold auto parts in Bangkok before coming to Stanford to do his
doctorate on vehicle controls.

"Building an autonomous racing car -- how cool is that?" he asked with a
huge smile.

Gerdes said Shelley will do its first high-speed tests at Pikes Peak
with a driver, so the team can monitor human reactions on the curving
road and programme
that into the car's software. Then it will be time for the ultimate test
of the autonomous car.

"In my lab, we're really trying to drive at the limits of handling and
safety systems. With Shelley, we are looking at what we can do to
emulate race 
car
 drivers," he said. "There's no room for error. If you don't know what's
going to happen, you shouldn't try it, because it's a long way down."

(c) 2009 AFP