In an effort to raise the difficulty and ambitions of the DARPA challenge, this years event pitted engineers against conditions simulating an urban environment. What's amazing is the level of performance achieved in what is only the first year. Carnegie-Mellon's team won, but 6 of the 11 competitors finished the course under time.
I tell people, Space Individualized Transit (SIT) are not nearly as far away as they think. In less than 20 years the transition will begin, and it's only that long due to political and regulatory red tape that is sure to throw up roadblocks. Once that transition begins, it's unstoppable. I don't care how many people tell me they like driving their cars to work in the morning. How many people tell me they want the "freedom" to sit at the wheel for tens of thousands of hours of their life.
The thing I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, is that within a week of sitting down in a vehicle that doesn't require this, even the most resistant skeptic will have to ask himself, "what was I thinking?"
Once we get the drivers hands off the steering wheel, all kinds of other great things can happen.
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