Unmanned Cars Ready To Navigate Traffic Within A Few Years?

"The Stanford car will compete in the agency's third and most challenging derby -- the DARPA Urban Challenge, in which robotic cars will drive in a mock city environment. Cars must merge, navigate traffic, traverse busy intersections, avoid obstacles and master the most delicate of skills -- determining who has the right of way.

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Stanford and Thrun have been down this road before. Stanford's entry in the 2005 race, Stanley, won first place. But that race was run in the Nevada desert. 'The next challenge will be to drive where we live,' said Thrun, who spoke on a panel about the future of robotics. 'This new generation of robots is making the case that they can safely navigate without any human assistance,' he said."