Racing robot cars prove driverless technology victory

When I first heard of the contest that would pit driverless cars against each other on a simulation of a typical urban traffic scenario, I was very intrigued.

The creme de la creme of technology teams and the elite technical schools of science tendered their respective prototypes.

Could a robotic vehicle stop and start at traffic lights, turn corners after trafficating or signaling a turn to the left or right? The unreserved answer to all these questions is a resounding 'YES'!

The winners of the robotic duel in a California ghost town were:

[....Spectators gasped as cars with empty driver's seats pulled out of the starting blocks, steering wheels turning on their own, and headed into the neighborhood streets of a deserted air force base.

Stanford University's "Junior" was the first to pass the finish line, followed by cars outfitted by Carnegie Mellon University and Virginia Tech within the six-hour time limit.

The joint University of Pennsylvania-Lehigh University vehicle arrived close to the limit, while cars from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Cornell University were the last of the 11 finalists to get through the course, both arriving about seven and a half hours after the start.

The winner of the $2 million prize, scheduled to be named on Sunday, will be determined based on safety as well as speed through the 60-mile (100-km) course....

That's a lot better than the first Grand Challenge by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Defense Department's research arm, a 2004 cross-desert race with no finishers.

Chris Yakes, Oshkosh Truck Corp's advanced products director, described how a computer memory error ended the first trial for his truck. "The last thing it saw was a bush in front of it," he sighed.

An Oshkosh truck finished the 2005 desert race with flying colors, although its Urban Challenge entry, the TerraMax, did not finish.

"Other than having a kid or getting married, I don't know if there's anything more exciting than seeing your robot coming over the horizon and bounding past the finish line at 45 miles per hour," Yakes said, remembering the 2005 race.

Oshkosh trucks supply U.S. troops in Iraq and elsewhere and a driverless version is exactly what DARPA needs to cut the number of soldiers' lives at risk in battle....]

Now I can dream about, one day soon, sending a car off to a fast food joint to pick up an order, and pronto! Whiplash suits would be a thing of the past, too? Well, maybe not just yet.