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

2005 DARPA Grand Challenge 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge Prospect Twelve

2005 DARPA Grand Challenge 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge Prospect Twelve

The DARPA Grand Challenges Defense 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 2004 Across 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 Challenge GC 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

2005 Grand Challenge Team

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

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.”

It wasn’t so easy…

The Making of a Monster

November 2004

October 2005

Pimp My Ride

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

Achievements in 2005

2005 DARPA Grand Challenge 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge Prospect Twelve

The Urban Challenge

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

ParkingIntersectionsDynamic ReplanningPassing Sample Behaviors

2007 Urban Challenge Team

January 2007

October 2007

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

Drive-By-Wire

Vision Technologies Christopher Baldassano‘09

Obstacle Detection 1 2

Lane Detection 1 2 3

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

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

Prospect Twelve 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge

NJ State Driver’s Exam

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