DARPA Grand Challenge - GaV Lab

For the second year, Auburn University has been asked to partner with SciAutonics in the DARPA Grand Challenge, which is scheduled for October 8, 2005 . The Grand Challenge is an autonomous race from Los Angeles to Las Vegas . A vehicle must drive along a loosely defined route completely without human intervention. SciAutonics consists of a small group of mainly Rockwell Scientific Company employees based in Thousand Oaks , California . Because Auburn designed the control and navigation algorithms for the vehicle during the last Grand Challenge, this year's team will be named ôSciAutonics-Auburn.ö SciAutonics shipped the vehicle to Auburn University for the summer of 2004 in order to allow Auburn direct access to work on the vehicle.

The previous Grand Challenge began with 45 vehicles, but only 15 made the cut to compete in the race. Of those 15, the vehicle built by SciAutonics and Auburn was one of nine that actually made it out of the starting area during the competition. The leading entry in last year's Challenge was capable of completing just 5% of the course. There is much research to be done before autonomous vehicles become safe and effective. However, the technology that SciAutonics and Auburn developed for the 2004 race provides the SciAutonics-Auburn team an excellent foundation to build upon.

Auburn University will provide steering and throttle control, as well as the navigation system for the vehicle. Currently, the GPS and Vehicle Dynamics Lab is conducting research into various methods of achieving autonomous control. The lab also has research projects to combine GPS and inertial measurements for more intelligent navigation solutions. The experience of applying this research to real world systems is invaluable. Learning what limitations prevent an autonomous vehicle from working correctly will help direct the lab's future research.