This year’s DARPA Urban Challenge starts off on the 3rd of November and yet as early as now, Volkswagen of America, Inc. has already shown much interest in this automotive happening. In fact, the company has already announced that it would be working with the Stanford University and together, they would be joining in the challenge.
The two would be sending off a robotic 2006 VW Passat wagon that would be coming with tail lights as eyes. Well, of course, that is just a joke. You see, VW has yet to give more details about the vehicle although they did say that their new robotic VW Passat would be coming in using diesel as its source of power.
So as to be successful in conquering the DARPA Urban Challenge, this robotic VW Passat would have to go through 60 miles of a mock urban course. The whole route may seem simple to you but the organizers of the event do say that the whole urban course would be coming complete with traffic, circles, and even busy intersections that we may have all come to hate. Plus, there would be some new rules that would need the contenders to actually follow traffic rules and regulations.
Dr. Carlo Rummel is the executive director of the VW of America’s Electronics Research Laboratory and he says, “After our victory at the last DARPA Grand Challenge, Volkswagen is excited to join the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. We see an opportunity to further advance intelligent technologies for use in passenger vehicles of the future. The features developed for the Urban Challenge will ultimately make driving safer and more enjoyable in today's increasingly dense traffic.” He even further adds, “With the fuel efficient Passat, we have the perfect vehicle for the job; just like our Touareg 'Stanley' was for the desert race in 2005.”