Several members of the Insight Racing team (www.insightracing.org) are in Michigan this week working with Lotus Engineering on the Lone Wolf. The Lone Wolf is an autonomous vehicle which is planned to compete in the Urban Challenge, the newest Grand Challenge event.
The Grand Challenge is a series of smart car races developed by the US Government Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to meet a congressional mandate that 1/3 of the military vehicles operate without human drivers or human intervention by 2015. The first 2 Grand Challenge races took place in the Mohave Desert in 2004 and 2005, respectively.
The Urban Challenge is set to take place in a city environment in November 2007. The Lone Wolf and other contestants will drive in city conditions for up to 6 hours with no outside intervention whatsoever. The robotic vehicles will make decisions, drive on city streets, avoid obstacles, stop at intersections, maneuver traffic circles, park, pass traffic and interact with other traffic in the race.
While at Lotus Engineering, the combined team plans to finish details of mounting some equipment, test some of the software used to control the vehicle, and test the vehicle on the rolling road where they can test the actual operation (while inside the building.) The rolling road is a device that allows full operation of the vehicle where the engine actually drives the tires on a surface that rolls. This allows testing computer controlled speed and braking, as well as simulated driving of a mission, while the car is in a static position.
"Lotus Engineering is excited by Insight Racing's progress towards solving the Urban Challenge," said Don Graunstadt, Chief Executive Officer & President of Lotus Engineering. "We have a strong collaborative relationship which brings many types of engineering talents together in our Lotus Elise entry. Driving exciting technology leadership is the foundation of activities at Lotus Engineering."
"Led by Lotus, all of our partners have been enthusiastic contributors to this project. The success of collaborative efforts is due to the commitment of each participant and Lotus' contribution has been first class," said Grayson Randall, Insight Racing founder. "Already we can see how this smart vehicle technology will ultimately change how we drive in the not too distant future."
The Insight Racing team is a cooperative effort formed in 2003 to develop autonomous robotics solutions. The team is sponsored by NC State University and North Carolina businesses. The team includes several NC State University students, faculty and alumni.
The Lone Wolf is expected to return to Raleigh in early February for full sensor mounting, further system integration and testing.
Sponsors include: AVRC(Advanced Vehicle Research Center), Lotus Engineering, Insight Technologies, NC State University, Comtrol, Smith Anderson, SICK, Ascot Technologies, Inc., BD Micro, and PC MedEvac.
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The Advanced Vehicle Research Center (AVRC) is a modern automotive testing facility for use in the design, development, testing and certification of advanced vehicle technologies, sub-systems and components. The Advanced Vehicle Research Center is a public-private partnership that matches the talents of multi-national automotive companies with those of North Carolina's leading universities. The AVRC is world class and focused on next generation research and development in the automotive industry (www.avrnc.com).
Lotus Engineering is an internationally recognized automotive engineering consultant based in Hethel, Norfolk, UK. Its global facilities include those in Michigan and North Carolina, USA and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and offices in Germany and China. It provides comprehensive and versatile consultancy services to many of the world's car manufacturers and tier one automotive suppliers, from initial concept and project design through development to full production prototype build.
Insight Technologies is a North Carolina based robotics company formed to compete in the DARPA Grand Challenge events. (www.insightrobots.com)
North Carolina State University was founded as a land-grant institution in 1887. A nationally recognized leader in science and technology with historic strengths in agriculture and engineering, NC State provides a high-quality education in the humanities and social sciences, design, education, life sciences, management, natural resources, physical and mathematical sciences, textiles and veterinary medicine. |
Contact Information:
Media contacts:
Jennifer Weston, (919) 349-9764, weston@ncsu.edu
Walt Sliva, (919) 931-1118, wjsliva@ncsu.edu
Simon Cobb, (734) 834-6264, simon.cobb@lotus-usa.com
Richard Dell, (919) 602.4784, richard@avrnc.com |
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