Self-Driving Car Completes Longest-Ever Road Trip In Mexico
(CBS SF) -- A University of Nevada, Reno professor completed a 1,500 drive from the U.S. border to Mexico City in his autonomous car, making it the longest hands-free drive in Mexico yet.
After starting in the border town of Nogales, Professor Raul Rojas depended on an onboard computer to guide his 2010 Volkwagon Passant Variant on city streets and highways through the Sonoran Desert up to Guadalajara and then to its final destination in Mexico City.
"This is a new challenge, a next step to learn and develop systems, to learn ways to solve new problems for driverless cars," Rojas said in a statement. "Most of the trip was highway, but there are many different issues such as construction sites, urban areas in between, potholes and so on. In the case of the Mexican highway, there is construction work and potholes in around 5 percent of the segments."
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His autonomous car, equipped with highly precise GPS system and specialized equipment to control speed, direction and braking, had preciously driven 190 miles round trip between Berling and Leipzig. This latest road trip is a new personal best for Rojas who has been designing self-driving cars since 2006 at various universities, including Stanford.
