November 5th, 2007
Carnegie Mellon wins the Urban Challenge
And the winner is …
Sunday, DARPA announced the winning teams in the super-challenging robot car race the Urban Challenge. The big boys are:
- In first place, Carnegie Mellon’s Tartan Racing Team. Prize: $2 million.
- Second place: the Stanford Racing Team. Prize: $1 million.
- Third prize: Virginia Tech’s Victor Tango (how military). Prize: $500K.
Reports News.com’s Stephanie Olsen:
CMU’s Boss, a modified 2007 Chevy Tahoe, finished the course about 20 minutes faster than Stanford’s Junior–an autonomous driving VW Passat. Boss averaged about 14 miles per hour over about 55 miles. It crossed the finish line only minutes after Junior, but Boss started at least 20 minutes later in the challenge. Virginia Tech crossed the finish line third.
Red Whittaker, CMU’s team leader, said that the win is all about inspiring people and changing beliefs. “Once the perception of what’s possible changes it never goes back. This is a phenomenal thing for robotics.”
