“Stanley” is a driverless vehicle modified from a Volkswagen Touareg. Special Features include radar systems, stereo cameras, a “monocular vision system,” GPS receivers, and innovative computer software that enables “Stanley” to maneuver independently. Photo Courtesy of Stanford Racing.
National Museum of American History
1300 Constitution Ave., NW
Washington, DC
Stanley, the self-driving winner of a historic robotic vehicle race in 2005, is the landmark object on the museum’s third floor east wing, connecting the museum’s military and political history galleries through a focus on interactions between defense sponsored innovation and political need. This blue Volkswagen Touareq competed in the 2005 Pentagon’s Defense Advances Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Grand Challenge robot race. Created with the help of nearly 100 people at Stanford University and Volkswagen Electronics Research Laboratory (ERL) in Palo Alto, CA, this vehicle helped revolutionize driverless car technology. Stanley was designed to navigate mapped terrain and unmapped obstacles in real time through sophisticated programs in onboard computers. This robotic vehicle demonstrates promising research advances in artificial intelligence and driverless vehicles.
