DARPA Grand Challenge Team PVRW

  2004

Starting in 2003 I helped build a DARPA Grand Challenge team and autonomous vehicle entry. Our team, PV Road Warriors, placed as finalists in the race, making it into the top 10 teams. The challenge was to build a car that would drive itself from Barstow, CA to Primm, NV.

We secured Honda as a sponsor, and they donated an off-road capable Acura MDX with adaptive suspension and Kevlar tires. We used multiple SICK LIDAR scanners, radar, vision, IMU, DGPS, and a proprietary high-resolution optical ground reading device for primary sensing and localization. All optical sensors were actively stabilized using a custom 3-axis active gimbal suspension. The vehicle was actuated using EMC mobility controls in order to control the throttle, braking, steering, and transmission.