Driving Without Hands

  

PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) - March 23, 2007 -- Imagine a vehicle that can drive on its own, without any human control, in an urban setting.

A group of Princeton University engineering students is in the process of developing a vehicle to do just that.

The students make up one of about 100 teams competing in the DARPA Urban Challenge, an open competition in November designed to spur the development of technologies for autonomous vehicles.

Congress has mandated that by 2015, one-third of all ground combat vehicles be unmanned. DARPA, which stands for Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, is the research arm of the Department of Defense.

Princeton junior Gordon Franken, a mechanical engineering major, says the students have built electronic circuits to work with the electronic systems of a 2005 Ford Escape Hybrid. This allows the students to use computers to control the steering, throttle and brakes.

In November, robotic vehicles will attempt to complete a 60-mile course through traffic in less than six hours.

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