May 13, 2008 5:00 pm US/Eastern
Let Little Ben Do All The Driving
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
With all of the distractions on the road these days, it would be a whole lot easier if cars could just drive themselves. CBS 3's Stephanie Abrams reports now they can thanks to Little Ben, a system developed by a group of engineering students at the University of Pennsylvania.
At first glance, Little Ben looks like a bizarre Toyota Prius with sensors and cameras attached.
"These scan up mostly to get what would be a human's blind spot. They have 270 degree field of view," said one student.
Little Ben is equipped with infrared technology, lasers, antennas and computers designed by University of Pennsylvania engineering students. Combined, the system lets the vehicle drive itself, even making its own decisions.
After ingesting a map of a city with GPS technology, Little Ben is set to hit the road.
The car is so smart it avoids obstacles, obeys traffic lights and even understands road rules like who goes first at an intersection.
Little Ben motored through the streets of Victorville, California where 92 universities took on a challenge by the Defense Department to build a self driving vehicle.
Only six cars, including Little Ben, survived the test and the University of Pennsylvania did it without government funding.
"We spent about $200,000 on this project and that's compared to teams that spent many millions of dollars," said Professor Dan Lee of the University of Pennsyvlania. "This is the first of it's kind basically, so there was no kind of blue print or model behind it. We kind of had to think about how a car could drive itself."
Now the Pentagon wants to know how the Ben Franklin racing team makes him go.
"The military obviously wants it for things like automated convoy missions to prevent human drivers from getting hurt," Lee said.
The possibilities of a self-driving car are nearly endless, including a vehicle that drives children home, transports the disabled and the elderly.
"They don't have to worry about aging and losing their reflexes. They can still safety travel and remain independent," said masters student Tully Foote.
Little Ben can also be driven manually or with a remote control. Currently, Little Ben is limited to driving 30 miles an hour in good weather conditions, but he's the first of his generation.
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