Tuesday, August 16 2005:
In preparing for the DARPA Grand Challenge 2005, Alain Kornhauser, Founder of ALK Technologies and faculty advisor for Princeton University’s DARPA team, finds himself on the sideline. The reason: “Prospect Eleven”, the name of Princeton University’s entry into the DARPA Grand Challenge, is an autonomous vehicle that can drive itself.

DARPA Grand Challenge 2005:
“Build or modify” an automobile-sized vehicle that can negotiate a prescribed course containing randomly place obstacles without any human intervention. More info..

What is DARPA?
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is the central research and development organization for the United States Department of Defense (DoD). DARPA’s mission is to leverage ingenuity and research to develop transformational technologies that give U.S. armed forces a decisive edge. More info..

In Brief: How Does Prospect Eleven Drive Itself?
Prospect Eleven has on-board computers that have a virtual course loaded onto it defining the path it should take. This “virtual course” is essentially a series of latitude/longitude points—Prospect Eleven uses GPS receivers (specifically, a CoPilot GPS receiver) to keep it on course, letting it know when and where it needs to turn, brake or accelerate.

In addition to following the virtual course, Prospect Eleven is equipped with video cameras mounted in the cab that act as digital eyes for identifying obstacles. When it identifies an obstacle, it veers sufficiently to avoid the obstacle before returning back to the center of the virtual lane.