🚀 go-pugleaf

On July 23, 1995 Research Scientist Dean Pomerleau and Ph.D. student Todd
Jochem from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA will begin a
trans-continental journey in their 1990 Pontiac Trans Sport. If all goes well,
the two will end up in Los Angeles CA on July 31. What makes this trip special
is that the vehicle will drive itself most of the way.

To accomplish this, the researchers have added some "optional" equipment to the
vehicle, called the Navlab 5. It has been outfitted with a portable computer, a
windshield mounted camera, a GPS receiver, as well as some other supplementary
equipment. Although capable enough to drive the vehicle, the equipment is
fairly compact - about the size of two large shoe boxes. All of the equipment
is powered from the cigarette lighter, just like a radar detector.

The trip, dubbed "No Hands Across America," actually began two months ago when
the system drove from Pittsburgh to Washington, DC. On this trip, the
Navlab 5 was able to drive itself 96% of the way (290/302 miles.) If this
percentage holds for the Pittsburgh to Los Angeles portion of the journey, the
vehicle will log over 3000 self-driving miles.

Check out http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/user/tjochem/www/nhaa/nhaa_home_page.html
for more info, including how to order a cool tee-shirt commemorating the trip.

-- Todd

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Todd Jochem             The Robotics Institute
                        Carnegie Mellon University
tjochem@ri.cmu.edu      Pittsburgh, PA 15213