Driverless car

Editor’s Note: The following article appeared in the Fall 2007 issue of Texas Innovator.

An Austin company is teaming with the University of Texas to develop a “robot” SUV that drives itself, in preparation for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Urban Challenge.

Austin Robot Technology is fine-tuning the robotic vehicle for the DARPA challenge in November 2007. The DARPA Urban Challenge pits autonomous vehicles from around the globe against one another in a race through an artificial urban landscape. The challenge is intended to accelerate research and development in autonomous ground vehicles that could help save lives on the battlefield.

Congress has mandated that by 2015, one-third of U.S. ground combat vehicles should be unmanned. By 2010, the U.S. Army plans to spend $14.8 billion on a new combat system that includes autonomous navigation systems.

For more information, contact Dave Tuttle, info@austinrobot.com.