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Engineering students from Carnegie Mellon University in the US state of Pennsylvania won a two-million-dollar prize for being rated the top finisher in a (1) Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency "Urban Challenge".
In a race worthy of a science fiction film, Carnegie Mellon's "Tartan Racing Team" backed by automotive giant GM stuffed sensors, radar and other electronics into a Chevrolet Tahoe sport utility vehicle nicknamed "Boss."
"This competition has significantly advanced our understanding of what is needed to make driverless vehicles a reality," said GM vice president of research and development Larry Burns.
Boss and five other driverless vehicles maneuvered themselves 100 km along mock city streets on a closed Southern California military base to a finish line within a mandated six-hour time limit.
In the only contest of its kind in the world.
Competitors had to park, circle, and properly react to traffic while completing "missions" that DARPA said simulate tasks vehicles might perform on battlefields.
Boss crossed the finish line in second place behind "Junior," a Volkswagen Passat modified by a team from Stanford University in California.
Speed was just one of the criteria used to determine the overall winner. DARPA judges took into account how precisely vehicles negotiated the route and obeyed traffic regulations.
The US military hopes to be the real winner at the Challenge by fostering technology enabling it to make a third of its vehicles robotic by 2015. The US Congress has sanctioned the goal.
GM produces (2) Humvee trucks used by US soldiers. AFP
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