The VIAC Challenge: Setup of an Autonomous Vehicle for a 13,000 km Intercontinental Unmanned Drive

Autonomous vehicles have been demonstrated able to reach the end of a 220 miles off-road trail (in the DARPA Grand Challenge), and1 negotiate traffic and obey traffic rules (in the DARPA Urban Challenge), but no one ever tested their capabilities on a long, intercontinental trip and stressed their systems for 3 months in a row on extreme conditions. This invited paper presents the vehicles that will run the VisLab Intercontinental Autonomous Challenge and the design issues that are the base for the equipment of an autonomous vehicle that will have to drive itself without any human intervention on an intercontinental route for more than 13,000 km. The challenge will take place from July 10, 2010 to Oct 10, 2010, therefore being currently under preparation, this paper focuses on the preparation issues and describes some important design choices.