Geek Table - Cars that Drive Themselves

[Leonardcrl]

Here for my weekly visit and to drop off a tidbit for the closet geeks and wireheads of Elk County.

Did you know that there is currently a competition underway in Victorville, California for cars that can drive themselves and obey
the California State driving rules?  The winner gets $2 Million, second place $1 Million and third brings in $500,000.  All taxpayer dollars of course.

It is the DARPA's Urban Challenge and the eliminations are underway to get to the final 20 vehicle starting field.  For coverage of the event go to Wired Magazines Danger Room and filter it for Urban Challenge. (That's a pick in the right hand sidebar almost at the bottom).  Another one with good coverage which includes some videos of the event is the TGDaily's Urban Challenge coverage.  I have a open post on the event here on my Technology Stuff Blog.  The first two elimination events have been concluded with the last elimination event scheduled for Wednesday.  The race for the money is on 3 November and will be streamed live over the DARPA site starting at 06:00 Pacific time. An edited version will eventually show up on the Discovery Channel.

Why am I bringing this up?  One of the early payoffs from this event is expected to be an enhanced cruise control that will:

• Warn the driver when the car strays from the lane
• Automatically slows the car when it approaches a slower vehicle in the same lane
• Provide a warning when another vehicle is approaching from the rear

I assume this might be of interest to those of you who make frequent trips on K400.