Drivers invited.
Aug 30, 2005 - Team Banzai, Modern Postcard, and Herman Cook Volkswagen invite drivers to attend a special live demonstration event featuring ‘Dora’, a full sized Volkswagen Touareg SUV that drives herself using GPS and laser sensor technology all controlled by three Apple Mac mini computers.
This event will be the first opportunity for the public to see Dora’s self- driving capabilities up close. 'Drivers Invited' will be held on September 10, 1-3pm at Herman Cook Volkswagen in Encinitas, California. In addition, the event will be simultaneously broadcast via iChat video-conference technology with Apple Store San Francisco.
Team Banzai and Dora will be participating in the DARPA Grand Challenge 2005 on Sept. 27- Oct 8. This technology race will pit 40 driverless vehicles from around the country in head to head competition. The first team to complete 150 miles of unfamiliar obstacle-strewn desert terrain in less than 10 hours will win $2 million. These vehicles will have no human drivers and no remote controls.
The technology being developed for this race will eventually lead
to safer vehicles that can anticipate dangers and aid drivers
in difficult
situations.
Team Banzai is one of only 40 teams (out of 200 from around the
country which competed) to advance by invitation to the National Qualification
Event of
the DARPA Grand Challenge 2005. Not only is this an enormous
challenge, (in last
year’s race, no team made it past 7.2 miles) but Team Banzai
also faces formidable competition from many top-tiered universities
and corporate
teams.
Team Banzai is a privately funded effort by the Banzai Research
Institute of Irvine, California, which specializes in the research
and development
of large-scale
intelligent knowledge management systems. Team Banzai’s scientists
and engineers excel at applying innovative cross-discipline strategies
to develop
elegant solutions to complex problems.
The DARPA Grand Challenge is part of a Congressionally mandated
program to develop technologies that will lead to the goal
that one-third
of operational ground combat vehicles will be unmanned by
2015.
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