Pioneering research pursues the driverless car

General Motors and Carnegie Mellon University have announced a new Collaborative Research Lab (CRL) and a renewed commitment to work jointly on technologies that will accelerate the emerging field of autonomous driving, looking to future achievement for  the driverless vehicle (UGV, ANV: Automatic Navigation Vehicle).

GM teamed with Carnegie Mellon last November to win first place in the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge, a competition between driverless vehicles over a 55-mile course of urban and suburban roadways held in Victorville, Calif. The race was a historic event for personal transportation, and an emphatic proof point that autonomous technology is real – cars can drive themselves.

“Technologies ranging from electronics, controls and software to wireless capabilities and digital mapping could ultimately change how people drive and use their vehicles,” said Larry Burns, GM vice president of R&D and Strategic Planning. “Imagine being virtually chauffeured safely in your car while doing your e-mail, eating breakfast and watching the news. The work we’re doing with Carnegie Mellon is a big stepping stone toward making this a reality.”

“Research in this new lab will focus on creating and maturing the underlying technologies required to build the autonomous vehicle of the future,” said Raj Rajkumar, Carnegie Mellon professor of electrical and computer engineering and co-director of the new CRL. “Autonomous vehicles will change the face of transportation by reducing deaths and injuries from automobile accidents and increasing the convenience and comfort of vehicles.”