Last years (2004) Grand Challenge field test of autonomous ground vehicles ran from Barstow, California to Primm, Nevada.  From the qualifying round at the California Speedway, 15 finalists emerged to attempt the Grand Challenge.  However, the prize went unclaimed as no vehicles were able to complete the difficult desert route.

This year, Grand Challenge will be held on October 8, 2005 in the desert Southwest. The route will be no more than 175 miles over desert terrain featuring natural and man-made obstacles.  The exact route will not be revealed until two hours before the event begins. 

The vehicle: Our partner institute at the State University of Ohio (OSU), modified this Polaris Ranger for autonomous driving. Besides the vision sensor, the vehicle is equipped with a laser scanner, radar, GPS, gyro and other sensors helpful for off-road navigation. See the ION homepage for further information.

Overview

Concept of the vision sensor.

Depth Estimation

Example for the depth estimation using a stereo camera.

Road Detection and Path Planning

Two different methods for the detection of the road are used: simple plane estimation in the depth/disparity image (left) and HMM based path planning (middle and right).

The ION vision team, f.l.t.r: Britta Hummel, Thao Dang, Christian Duchow (back), Christoph Stiller (front); missing: Sören Kammel (taking the photos).