Passat Wagon ‘Junior’ Finishes The DARPA Urban Challenge

DARPA Urban Challenge, an autonomous driving challenge where vehicles traverse an urban environment for 60 miles — merging with moving traffic, navigating traffic circles and busy intersections, avoiding obstacles and finding parking spots. Out of 167 teams who participated in the DARPA “Site Visit” in June and July 2007, 35 were chosen to advance to the National Qualifying Event, held October 26-31.

“Junior” — a Passat wagon modified by the Volkswagen Electronics Research Laboratory (ERL) in Palo Alto, Calif. in cooperation with Stanford University has successfully finished the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Urban Challenge.

“We could not be more pleased with our finish in this tough competition,” said Dr. Burkhard Huhnke, executive director, Electronics Research Laboratory, Volkswagen of America, Inc. “Junior performed exceptionally and has helped provide Volkswagen with valuable information as we continue to work on advancing passenger safety technologies and help to bring these technologies to future drivers.

“Pushing the concept of driver assistance to its limit, a car will someday be able to drive autonomously, either temporarily or for the full extent of the drive,” said Dr. Sebastian Thrun, associate professor of computer science and electrical engineering, Stanford University. “Junior has been an excellent means to test the many aspects of autonomous driving technology; these can be used for immediate applications in more “conventional” driver assistance and safety systems.“