Low-Cost Autonomous Vehicles for Urban Environments

Despite the rapid progress in the development of autonomous vehicles, as seen in the DARPA Urban Challenge 2007, there has been very little emphasis on minimizing costs. Some teams spent upward of $10 million in developmental expenses. The cost factor is very important as it is the primary driver leading to the commercialization of autonomous technology. With this fact in mind, an alternative approach has been emphasized here, wherein a fully autonomous vehicle designed for urban environments has been developed and tested for under $20,000 in hardware costs. Moreover, this vehicle passed several rounds of elimination to participate in the semi-finals of the DARPA Urban Challenge at Victorville, California, in November 2007.