Can Humans Deliver At Robot Road Race?

from the good-stuff dept

For all the technology enhancements added to cars over the past few years, few have done much to actually prevent collisions. There have been some efforts to improve safety in the event of a collision - and a few small features in higher end cars that try to better alert drivers to the threat of a collision, but not much to actively prevent a collision. The writer of this article suggests that, like early airplane challenges, a competition might help drive development in this area. In fact, he's looking specifically at a new DARPA funded race. The race is for fully robot controlled cars to run over 250 miles in the California/Nevada desert. To make it more challenging, the course itself won't be announced until right before the race starts. People are hoping that this challenge will lead to new developments in automobile design that can be useful for collision detection. Of course, there are a number of problems with the race plans, and many are complaining that the current rules are going to sink the entire plan. Hopefully, whatever problems are in the current rules can be worked out in time. Nothing like a little competition to bring out some innovation. More information is available on the DARPA Grand Challenge site.