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 (http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/) 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 (http://blog.wired.com/defense/) 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 (http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/34594/123/) coverage. I have a open post on the event here on my Technology Stuff Blog (http://elkcokan.typepad.com/techno_stuff/urban_challenge/index.html). 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. :laugh: