DARPA Grand Challenge Finalists Announced

Xerotope writes "DARPA announced today the 23 finalists[pdf warning] of the DARPA Grand Challenge at the closing ceremonies of the National Qualifying Event. Carnegie Mellon University's Red Team will start on Saturday with the first and third positions, with 'H1ghlander' taking the pole position and 'Sandstorm' following 10 minutes later. Stanford's 'Stanley' will start second. Of the 43 semi-finalists, 23 robots managed to finish the 2.2 mile course at least once. 5 robots (Stanford, Red Team, Red Team Too, Axion Racing, and Team Teramax) completed all of their runs. CMU's 'H1ghlander' and 'Sandstorm' finished the four runs with an average time of 10 minutes, 20 seconds each. Stanford's Stanley average time was 10:43."

Now just slap a cyberthalamus in

[Fen14]

And you have a sentient robot car. But you gotta make a cyberthalamus first.

Re:Terminator or Explorer?

[bigman2003]

Actually, I think the real question is:

"How long until the UN and EU assert control over all of these inventions...and expect the United States to manufacture them for free, under the banner of human rights?"

That's what I wonder...

Re:Terminator or Explorer?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well golly, since the whole thing is sponsored by DARPA, an agency of the US Department of Defense, I think they'll use this technology to ^(80948Q#4NO CARRIER

Re:Terminator or Explorer?

[Moofie]

"more gentile fashion"

Wait a second. "Gentile"? Like, as in, non-Jewish?

In other news...

[toocoolforschool]

The Florida State entry did not complete the course. It was last seen heading towards Tijuana, Mexico, picking up hotties along the way.

Re:We can't even imagine the uses this will be put

[hoggoth]

> The answer of course is that, once autonomous vehicles are possible and proven, the door is open to any use.
> ... military ... deliver supplies ... building remote pipelines ... patrol acreage ... guarding perimeters ... explore hostile environments ... deliver deadly payloads ... And there will be a host of applications that we haven't even thought of yet

Yes, but how will this apply to porn?
Everyone knows porn drives all new technology.

Hmmm...

[thewrathoffluffy]

DARPA Grand Challenge Finalists Announced
EU, UN to Wrestle Internet Control From US
Google Declares War on Microsoft

...is it just me, or are /. headlines sounding more and more like a wrestling Pay-Per-View?

Re:Terminator or Explorer?

[TheGavster]

Theoretically, an autonomous vehicle should be able to pick up one's kids and drive them elsewhere if it's scheduled (time and location) and the parents are both busy, but I have my doubts as to whether this would be a good thing to do.

I can see a movie around the idea of someone reprogramming people's cars (yay bluetooth hacks!) to deliver their children to a sweatshop: it's got everything, fear of technology, the opportunity for some wicked robot car chase scenes ...

Re:Terminator or Explorer?

[Schaffner]

"The question is...Will this technology be used primarily for unmanned military weapons? Or, will it be used in a more gentile fashion to explore hostile environments such as the Moon, Mars and the other planets?"

Actually, I think most uses will be for gentile purposes; unless the Israeli's get involved. :-)

Woohoo

[thebdj]

Go Buckeyes. Making the finalists. Glad to see the engineers at my alma mater doing well...

Re:Terminator or Explorer?

[seven of five]

will it be used in a more gentile fashion

Jews want to put robots into space?