The Urban Challenge is a race,
so the talk on race eve is all
about winning, not to mention
the $2 million first prize.
But the point of this
enterprise remains the
technology and, from that
perspective, we've already
won.

Or so say the executives of
three Tartan Racing sponsors,
who met the press Friday
afternoon in
more

The Urban Challenge is a race,
so the talk on race eve is all
about winning, not to mention
the $2 million first prize.
But the point of this
enterprise remains the
technology and, from that
perspective, we've already
won.

Or so say the executives of
three Tartan Racing sponsors,
who met the press Friday
afternoon in the team pit. The
technology that enables Boss
to drive itself could someday
be used to automate mining
trucks and other heavy
equipment that operates in
dangerous environments, for
instance.

Tana Utley, vice president and
chief technology officer for
Caterpillar, said her company
puts great emphasis on safety
systems that protect the
drivers of their mining
trucks, bulldozers and other
machines. \'What better way is
there to make them safe than
to get them out of the
machine?\'

Likewise, Karl-Thomas Neumann,
president of Continental
Automotive Systems, said his
company, which makes radars,
video cameras and other
automotive sensors, is using
sensor-based technology to
develop \'active safety\'
systems that can prevent most
accidents. To the extent that
the Urban Challenge has
hastened that day, \'I really
think that we have already
won.\'

The technology certainly will
enhance safety, agreed Larry
Burns, vice president of GM
research and development and
strategic planning. But it
also can help reduce
congestion, reduce traffic
delays and generally make
driving more enjoyable. \'Boss
really moves us much closer to
realizing our vision,\' he
said. \'At the end of the day,
the real winners here will be
the consumers.

Of course, we'd also like to
win the race.

Category Autos & Vehicles

Tags tartanracing, tartan, carnegie, mellon, cmu, gm, continental, caterpillar