Monday, June 18, 2007

Son of Stanley

Stanford has unveiled their successor to Stanley, the driverless car that won the DARPA Grand Challenge two years back. Junior is an upgraded version of the champion autonomous vehicle, sporting several new enhancements. These include many additional sensors, optical trackers designed to follow road markers, and a 360-degree camera system--all controlled by seemingly COTS computer equipment. The software powering Junior has been upgraded as well, allowing it to tackle a much more complex urban environment, unlike its desert-bound forbearer. Junior’s 500 probabilistic algorithms take less than 300 milliseconds to make critical navigation decisions.

Junior is currently undergoing tests to qualify for the DARPA Urban Challenge on November 3.

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