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VisLab Intercontinental Autonomous Challenge

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VisLab Intercontinental Autonomous Challenge (VIAC) is the challenge organized by VisLab and Overland Network for autonomous vehicles. It ran from July 20, 2010 to October 28, 2010, involving four driverless vehicles driving with minimum human intervention on a 20,000 km trip from Milan, Italy to Shanghai, China.[1][2]

Overview

The 2010 World Expo's theme is “better cities, better life”; issues related to sustainable mobility are central to the Expo and the challenge of reaching Shanghai with driverless vehicles provided a clear milestone in Robotics.

VisLab participated in the Expo with the project, partially funded by ERC -the European Research Council- to show that it is possible to move goods between two continents with non-polluting vehicles powered by green energy and with virtually no human intervention. Goods will were packed in Parma and taken to Shanghai on driverless vehicles for the first time in history.

The idea

The aim wass to test and stress the current technology in a unique event: non-polluting and no-oil based autonomous vehicles in real traffic conditions on an extreme journey between two continents.

However, the motors of the vehicles were not powered by the solar panels but by batteries which are charged at power outlets or by diesel generators, when there is no power outlet available. The solar panels only power the autonomous driving system.[3]

The first vehicle drives autonomously in selected sections of the trip, conducting experimental tests on sensing, decision, and control subsystems, and continuously collects data. Although limited, human interventions are needed to define the route and intervene in critical situations, since maps are not available in many areas.

The second vehicle automatically follows the route defined by the leader vehicle, requiring no human intervention (100% autonomous). This is regarded as a readily exploitable vehicle, able to move on predefined routes; at the end of the trip, its technology can be transferred to a set of vehicles to move in the inner part of cities in the close future.

During the trip, demonstrations were scheduled in specific hot spots, showing autonomous vehicles following given routes, negotiating traffic, avoiding obstacles, and stopping when required. The first demonstration was held in Rome at the EUR district on October 29, 2009, when Rome's Major, Gianni Alemanno, officially presented the VIAC challenge.

See also


References

  1. ^ VisLab's Adventure on the Silk Road
  2. ^ "Without driver or map, vans go from Italy to China", Elaine Kurtenbac, AP.COM
  3. ^ Challenge FAQ
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