Carnegie Mellon University robotics professor gives talks on autonomous driving

One leader in this field, Chris Urmson, Ph.D., is in Doha this week talking about his work with autonomous vehicles. Urmson gave a talk on Sunday at Carnegie Mellon Qatar about his work on the Tartan Racing team at Carnegie Mellon University.

As the director of technology for the team, Urmson coordinated a project in which a robotic car was able to successfully navigate its way through an urban environment. The vehicle, named “Boss,” was able to safely handle four-way intersections, parking lots, multiple-lane traffic and merging.

On Tuesday, Urmson will be the guest speaker at Qatar Science and Technology Park’s TECHtalks lecture series at Sharq Village. He will discuss his research into self-driving cars, and how that technology might be applied on Qatar's roads.

“Carnegie Mellon has the knowledge and experience to create the technology and Qatar has the interest in racing,” says Urmson, researcher at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh. “By working together, we can create technology that can make cars safer and can save lives everywhere'.

In addition to talking about his work, part of the reason for Urmson’s visit to Qatar is to work with Computer Science faculty members at Carnegie Mellon Qatar on a plan to bring robot car racing to Doha. Such races drive computer scientists to create new technology such as anti-lock braking systems, object sensors and new safety features that are slowly adapted by large auto manufacturers.

“Robot car racing is a shining example of technology,” says Brett Browning, senior systems scientist at Carnegie Mellon Qatar. “A lot of technology we see in new cars today came from car racing. It’s an excellent testing ground for developers because they can spend the time and money on creating and fine tuning new technology'.

By having robot car races in Doha, Browning says that Qatar could be a leader in the paradigm shift that is taking place in the auto industry. “Car makers are shifting their focus from accident survival to accident prevention,” he says. “We’ve created seatbelts, air bags and antilock brakes to make cars as safe as possible, now we need to shift to finding more ways to keep cars from having accidents. Qatar is in a prime position to lead this movement.”
Urmson, Browning and other Computer Science faculty members at Carnegie Mellon Qatar are currently in discussions with several local organizations on ways to get the project started.

About Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar
Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar is the first international branch campus operated by Carnegie Mellon University, a private American research university that's regularly ranked among the best in the world.

Carnegie Mellon offers its highly regarded undergraduate programs in Business Administration, Computer Science and Information Systems to students in the Gulf Region. Carnegie Mellon plans to open a new facility on the Education City campus in late 2008.