Looks like a normal car at first glance... Photo Team-LUX
A driverless car, due to take part in an unmanned car race, is being revealed to the public for the first time at London’s Science Museum.
The modified VW Passat was developed by Team-LUX, part of German company Ibeo Automobile Sensor, for the DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) Urban Challenge 2007.
It features a host of high-tech features to help the car ‘see’ where it is going and locate obstacles to manoeuvre around plus GPS navigation and computer-aided steering, brakes and gears.
After its stint at the Science Museum on April 11 and 12 it will get ready to take part in the race, which will be held in western USA on November 3 and 4. The car will line up against other ‘autonomous ground vehicles’ to complete a 60-mile course in realistic traffic conditions.
It's packed full of high-tech gadgets on the inside. Photo Team-LUX
Like all the other entrants, the Team-LUX vehicle drives entirely on its own with no human driver and no remote control.
This is the first time the DARPA challenge will test vehicles in an urban setting and comes with a $2m first prize.
“Although we are a relatively small team … our innovative laser technology gives us a lead of several years over our prospective rivals, especially in the field of object and environmental detection,” said Dr Ulrich Lages, managing partner of Ibeo Automotive Sensor.
Stanford Racing's Stanley, winner of the 2005 Grand Challenge. Courtesy DARPA
Visitors to the Science Museum will be able to see and touch prototypes of the vehicle's cutting-edge laser scanners, showing how the car can find its way around. There will also be video footage demonstrating how it moves by itself, as well as the steps taken to transform an ordinary vehicle into a driverless car.
DARPA has previously organised driverless car challenges in the desert, with an aim of developing the technology to perform unmanned journeys in warzones.
The first Grand Challenge was held in March 2004 and featured a 142-mile desert course which none of the entrants managed to finish. In 2005, four vehicles successfully completed a 132-mile desert route under the required 10-hour limit.
