A College of Engineering research team has advanced to the second round of a U.S. Department of Defense autonomous vehicle competition. The OSU-Autonomous City Transport team is among 53 competitors, selected from an initial field of 89, to continue on in the Urban Challenge hosted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
The Urban Challenge, set for Nov. 3, will feature fully autonomous ground vehicles conducting simulated military supply missions safely and effectively in a mock urban area.
Ohio State’s OSU-ACT team, which is using a hybrid SUV in the competition, now awaits the Aug. 9 semifinalist announcements.
In the Nov. 3 event, which will be held at a yet-to-be disclosed location in the western United States, robotic vehicles will attempt to complete a 60-mile course through traffic, operating under their own computer-based control. To succeed, vehicles must obey traffic laws while merging into moving traffic, navigating traffic circles, negotiating busy intersections and avoiding obstacles. DARPA will award $2 million, $1 million and $500,000 prizes to the top three finishers that complete the course within the six-hour time limit. Research universities and engineering schools, automobile manufacturers and suppliers, and defense contractors are among the represented sectors in the field.
Three DARPA officials visited the TRC test track in Marysville, Ohio, the location the Ohio State team selected for demonstrations, as they decided the team should advance in the latest round. The officials watched as the OSU-ACT vehicle went through a series of required exercises. The SUV, with no driver inside, was able to track the lanes, stop and wait at intersections and do lane changes to avoid other stopped cars as required.
The Ohio State team recently received $50,000 in support for the project from National Instruments Foundation of Austin, Texas. It also caught the attention of Marabella Productions, which was commissioned by the Discovery Science Channel to produce a series on contestants in the DARPA Urban Challenge. A crew is expected to film the team at the end of July in anticipation of a February 2008 airing of the story.
Ohio State’s team has a record of success in the DARPA Challenge. In October 2005, the Ohio State College of Engineering team finished in 10th place in the competition. The Desert Buckeyes’ ION vehicle traveled 29 miles of the 131.6-mile Mojave Desert course near Primm, Nev. It successfully negotiated obstacles and a series of narrow roads and sharp turns. In March 2004, the first year for the
DARPA Challenge, in which fully autonomous ground vehicles traveled through a desert course between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, Ohio State supported an Oshkosh Truck vehicle called TerraMax. None of the teams completed the course that year, but TerraMax went the sixth farthest of the dozen finalists.
DARPA is the central research and development organization for the Department of Defense. The agency manages and directs basic and applied research and development projects for the department and pursues research and technology that provide dramatic advances in support of military missions.
For details about the OSU-ACT team, visit its Web site at www.ece.osu.edu/osuact. A video clip of the OSU-ACT team vehicle in action is available at http://www.ece.osu.edu/osuact/gallery_video.html; click on “DARPA Video Demonstration 11 April 2007.” For information about the DARPA Urban Challenge, visit www.darpa.mil/GrandChallenge.
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News Editors: Contacts for the DARPA Grand Challenge are Johanna Spangenberg Jones (202) 289-2001, jjones@stratacomm.net or Jan Walker (703) 696-2404, jan.walker@darpa.mil. For details about the OSU-ACT team, contact professor Umit Ozguner, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, (614) 292-5940 or umit@ece.osu.edu.
Joan Slattery Wall, 614-292-4064July 16, 2007
