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Self Driving Car Essay

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The dream of a self driving automobile has been with us for quite some time. Many examples of what the future may hold in store have been seen in television programs and films, one notable example being the car KITT on the popular Knight Rider television series. Actual examples of the technologies being developed and those in place today include “self parking” vehicles, such as the Ford Focus Titanium, the Toyota Prius V, the Mercedes GL350, and the automatic collision avoidance systems available from multiple vehicle manufacturers. As the technology becomes more advanced and the equipment more reliable, the dream continues to come closer to reality. However, when the technologies catch up with consumer expectations, will drivers …show more content…

The biggest limiting factor to expansion of these efforts was the lack of adequate computing technology to make it feasible. In recent years the biggest researchers into autonomous vehicles have mainly been universities, car manufacturers, and the government. The major government sponsor and researcher into the evolution of autonomous vehicles has been the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). In 2004 DARPA offered a one million dollar monetary prize money to the winning team that developed an autonomous vehicle could complete a 150 mile course. Offering prizes instead of grants encouraged both heavily financed teams and backyard inventor to enter. More than 100 teams registered for the challenge, but none of the fifteen finalists completed more than 7.32 miles of the course, and the prize was not awarded. In 2005 the challenge was repeated, with the prize doubled to two million dollars. All but one of the 23 finalists exceeded the 7.32 mile maximum distance from the previous year, and five finalists actually completed the entire 150 mile course. In 2007 DARPA held the “Urban Challenge”. This competition required completion of a 60 mile urban course in under 6 hours. It included driving in traffic, merging with other vehicles,, avoiding obstacles, and parking in an urban environment while obeying all traffic regulations. With

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