The 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge is mere weeks away, and the top tier teams are readying to do battle on a yet-to-be-disclosed course in Victorville, CA. The event will take place November 3rd at the former George Air Force Base, and we'll have our own celebrity blogger, John McElroy, on hand to take pics and report back. Though many teams are entered, a select few from major universities are considered serious contenders for the $2 million grand prize. They include last year's winner Stanford who is entering a Volkswagen Passat Wagon named 'Junior', perennial runner-up powerhouse Carnegie Mellon featuring a driverless Chevy Tahoe, and the MIT team that's going upscale with an autonomous Land Rover LR3.
Land Rover decided to show off the entrant today releasing this pic of the vehicle in all its geeky glory. Though the DARPA Grand Challenge event is meant to showcase technologies that could ultimately lead to autonomous vehicles on public roads, one look at the number of sensors on the MIT entrant would likely make a Land Rover designer pass out and a potential customer run for the hills. Equipped with GPS, the MIT LR3 uses LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) range finders to whisker its way through uncharted environments. Until all this equipment can be scaled down for mass consumption, these vehicles will remain as merely impractical proof that safe and reliable autonomous driving is at least possible.
Before the event takes place two weekends from now, those teams that have made it this far will participate in a National Qualification Event this weekend to further weed out the autonomous wannabes from the legitimate contenders. We fully expect Standford's 'Junior', Carnegie Mellon's Tahoe and the MIT LR3 to make it through to the final event where Mr. McElroy will be ready cover the final outcome.
[Source: Land Rover]
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/10/22/m...ban-challenge/
MIT entering driverless Land Rover LR3 in DARPA Urban Challenge
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