Autonomous Vehicle Initiatives at Princeton University

2. Autonomous Vehicle Initiatives at Princeton University Alain L. Kornhauser Professor, Operations Research & Financial Engineering Director, Transportation Research Program Team Leader, DARPA Challenges Presented at TECHNIX 2009 The Annual Technical Information Exchange of the Advanced Transit Association January 11, 2009

3. 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge Prospect Twelve

4. 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge Prospect Twelve

5. The DARPA Grand ChallengesDefense Advanced Research Projects Agency DARPA Grand Challenge Created in response to a Congressional and DoD mandate: a field test intended to accelerate R&D in autonomous ground vehicles to help save American lives on the battlefield.  The Grand Challenge brings together individuals and organizations from industry, the R&D community, government, the armed services, academia, students, backyard inventors, and automotive enthusiasts in the pursuit of a technological challenge. The First Grand Challenge:  Across the Mojave, March 2004Across the Mojave from Barstow, California to Primm, Nevada : $1 million prize.  From the qualifying round at the California Speedway, 15 finalists emerged to attempt the Grand Challenge.  The prize went unclaimed as no vehicles were able to complete more than 7.4 miles. The 2005 Grand ChallengeGC final event 132 miles through the Nevada desert on October 8, 2005: $2 million prize. Multi-step qualification process: Site Visits, NQE – Semifinals,. Course supplied as list of GPS waypoints. First place went to Stanford University, second and third to Carnegie Mellon

7. 2005Grand Challenge Team

8. Objective Enrich the academic experience of the students Constraints Very little budget Guiding Principles Simplicity

9. Homemade “Unlike the fancy ‘drive by wire’ system employed by Stanford and VW, Princeton’s students built a homemade set of gears to drive their pickup. I could see from the electronics textbook they were using that they were learning as they went.” http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0,1205,l=&s=1489&a=161569&po=2,00.asp

10. It wasn’t so easy…

11. The Making of a Monster

12. November 2004

14. October 2005

16. Pimp My Ride

17. Journey to the Grand Challenge 195 entries 9 alternate semi-finalists 2nd Site Visit August, 2005 Video Submission March, 2005 118 teams Site Visit May, 2005 3 additional semi-finalists 40 semi-finalists Semifinals September, 2005 Completed 9.5 miles autonomously 10th Seed of 23 finalists Final Event October 3, 2005 3 weeks later Return to the Mojave

18. Achievements in 2005

20. 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge Prospect Twelve

21. The Urban Challenge

22. 60 miles of autonomous driving in under 6 hours. Navigate within a simulated urban environment – handling GPS outages.

23. Sample Behaviors Parking Intersections Dynamic Replanning Passing

24. 2007 Urban Challenge Team

25. January 2007

27. October 2007

29. Constraints Same as in 2005; limited budget Extent of requirements increased complexity of our software architecture Our Approach Homebrew drive-by-wire modifications Unique sensor suite relying primarily on vision technology Urban Challenge Site Visit Video

30. Drive-By-Wire

32. Vision Technologies Christopher Baldassano‘09

33. ObstacleDetection 1 2

34. 1 3 2 4

35. Lane Detection 1 2 3

36. 1 4 2 5 3 6

37. Route to the Urban Challenge 89 entries 35 semi-finalists Video Submission April, 2007 Site Visit & Tech Paper July, 2007 Semifinals October, 2007 Further Development 53 teams 11 finalists Final Event November 3, 2007

38. “Boss” Tartan Racing “Junior” Stanford Racing Team “Odin” Victor Tango “Talos” MIT “Little Ben” Ben Franklin Racing “Skynet” Cornell

39. 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge Prospect Twelve

40. NJ State Driver’s Exam

41. Milestones Today November, 2009 Robust and reliable subsystems Drive down marked roads using vision alone Parallel parking New Jersey state driver’s test Fully autonomous vehicle PRT for NJ