NEWS
No Hands Across America Trip Completed
Carnegie Mellon Researchers Successfully Prove Autonomous Driving Technologies During a 3,000 Mile Hands-off-the-Wheel Trip from Pittsburgh to San Diego
Pittsburgh, PA – December 1st, 1995 –Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute recently completed a 3,000 mile cross-country trip from Pittsburgh to San Diego this week in a Pontiac minivan that drove itself most of the way.
Research scientist Dean Pomerleau and robotics doctoral student Todd Jochem didn’t touch the steering wheel but they did operate the throttle and brakes of a 1990 Pontiac Trans Sport, known as Navlab 5. During the trip, dubbed "No Hands Across America," they successfully proved the roadworthiness of on-road autonomous lane keeping and lateral roadway departure warning and support systems they and their colleagues at the Robotics Institute have been developing for the past 10 years.
During the trip, the vehicle successfully navigated all but 52 of the nearly 3,000 miles for an astonishing 98.2% self-driving rate. The brains of Navlab 5 is a new, vision-based software system that was developed by Assistware, a Carnegie Mellon spinoff company. As the vehicle moves along, a video camera mounted just below the rearview mirror reads the roadway, imaging information including lane markings, oil spots, curbs and even ruts made in snow by car wheels. The camera sends the image to a portable computer between the car's front seats that processes the data and instructs an electric motor on the steering wheel to turn right or left.
The driving system runs on the PANS (Portable Advanced Navigation Support) hardware platform. The platform provides a computing base and input/output functions for the system, as well as position estimation, steering wheel control and safety monitoring. It's powered from the vehicle's cigarette lighter and is completely portable.
Over the past six months the PANS platform has supported over 3,000 miles of autonomous lane keeping, including 30 miles on a closed test track on which Navlab 5 reached a top speed of 90 miles per hour.
Pomerleau realizes that the demand for a self-driving vehicle will be many years away, but believes there are immediate opportunities to commercialize some of the underlying technologies.
Navlab 5 will be crossing the country on major interstate highways, first to Indianapolis, St. Louis and Kansas City, then to Denver and Las Vegas and finally to Los Angeles and San Diego.
In May, Pomerleau and Jochem did a preview of the California journey with a 305-mile trip from Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C. On that trip, the driving system autonomously steered the Navlab 96 percent of the way at an average speed of 57 miles per hour. Faster and cheaper computers have enabled researchers to make tremendous advances in autonomous vehicle technology. In 1986, the first Navlab, a blue Chevrolet panel van, contained five racks of computing equipment, including a supercomputer. Its top speed was two miles per hour. In 1990, a camouflaged Army ambulance known as Navlab II contained three high-end computers plus two others for low-level control jobs. It could move over rough terrain at six miles per hour and reached on-road speeds of up to 70 miles per hour.
"This trip validated our software in the real world," says Jochem. "It was a huge success as it was the longest, continuous, autonomous interaction for a robot in a real world environment."
At Carnegie Mellon, research into autonomous vehicles began in 1985 and has received continuous support from the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). More recently, additional funding has come from the U.S. Department of Transportation which hopes to use smart car technologies to make American highways safer and more productive for the nation's drivers.
The primary sponsors of the Navlab 5 journey across America include Delco Electronics, AssistWare Technology and Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute. Andrew Corp. and RDI Computer Corp. are providing additional support.
About Assistware Technology
Assistware is dedicated to improving highway safety through a suite of driver assistance aids. Introduced in 1999, SafeTRAC was the industry’s first commercially available Lane Departure Warning System. Today, SafeTRAC can be found on commercial truck and passenger vehicles worldwide. Assistware is committed to making the nation’s highways a safer place and will continue to introduce new products to support that goal.
For more information, visit: www.assistware.com or contact Mike Formica at 724-449-7235.
Assistware Technology l 724-449-SAFE (7233) l safetrac-sales@assistware.com