Your favorite driverless vehicles from the DARPA Urban Challenge are getting set to tackle yet another task -- speed racing. Yep, Junior, Boss (pictured) and Ben will all be greasing their gears in an attempt to outrun the others around one lap of the 1.97-mile, 11-turn circuit, all without smashing into walls or hailing a motorist to take over. Unfortunately, all three won't be on the track at the same time -- which ensures that no green / red shell ejections will have an effect on the outcome -- but those interested in seeing this in person can head on down to Long Beach on April 20th.

[Via CNET, image courtesy of PaulStamatiou]

DARPA's Urban Challenge has finished, with six of the eleven cars making it across the finishing line. Cars from Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, and Virginia Tech were the "winners," taking less than the six hour maximum to complete the 60 mile course which involved avoiding obstacles and fifty cars with human drivers. The overall winner of the $2 million prize has yet to be announced, although were guessing it'll be one of the latter three teams rather than the eight other cars that completed the course. Despite the significant collision potential, there was only one minor fender bender (which didn't even stop the two cars.) That's a far better showing than the first ever "Desert" Challenge in 2004 where not a single car finished. Since then the number of cars completing has only increased, and with it, the potential for cars that can drive themselves.

UPDATE: Carnegie Mellon won the $2 Million, with Stanford finishing second for $1 Million, and Virginia Tech third for $500,000.

DARPA's Grand Challenge certainly snags a majority of the spotlight when talking about autonomous vehicles, but researchers at the University of Essex are looking to tackle the idea on a (literally) smaller scale. Seeking to craft a "driverless model car," the project will reportedly utilize a standard remote control model vehicle, which will be flanked by a PC, camcorder, and a bevy of sensors. Supposedly, the software that will be riding on board will allow the vehicle to be "entirely autonomous" by recognizing obstacles, making tactical decisions, and driving itself around a test track. The team responsible for the prototype hopes that this small-scale, low-cost endeavor will "pave the way" for autopilot cars of the future, and considering the problems we mere humans are already having with newfangled technology, that day can't come soon enough.

[Via Slashdot]

Although a fair amount of entrants into DARPA's Urban Challenge flank their vehicles with hordes of less-than-attractive sensors, we've been quick to forgive such atrociousness due to the complexities involved in cruising around sans a driver. Ibeo-led Team LUX, however, is looking to add a dash of style to this year's (now lucrative) competition, as its Volkswagen Passat TDI wagon touts a clean exterior, three "laser scanners" for complete 360-degree perception, and amazingly, not much else. Apparently, the trio of uber-capable modules are all that's needed to keep the car under control, and while we'd typically doubt such bold claims, the 11-member team has quite an impressive resume in the autonomous vehicle department. Still, the minimalist approach will probably face some stiff competition, and although we're certainly not experts on design, we still think the Wolfpack's Lotus packs a bit more sexy.

[Via CNET]

A123Systems most certainly won't go down as the first startup to crank out what could be the batteries that reside in our future electric vehicles, but it seems to be edging ever closer to landing a full-blown contract with General Motors. GM has already selected the Massachusetts-based company to "develop batteries that might be used for the Saturn Vue," and it is pondering the idea of awarding the battery maker a similar deal for the Volt. The firm is garnering a good bit of praise for its "long-lasting, safe rechargeable Li-ions" that could potentially power the all-electric / hybrid vehicles of the future, but rather than relying on "cobalt oxide, it used iron phosphate assembled in a novel, nano-structure." Interestingly, the outfit's current offerings started out with the idea of utilizing self-assembling cells, but after they proved "intractably hard to develop," the idea was scraped in favor of the less pricey Li-ion approach. Still, don't expect these guys to run the table on automotive contracts, as there's already quite a few formidable opponents on the loose.