The goal of the RACER program is to develop and demonstrate autonomy technologies that enable unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) to maneuver in unstructured, off-road terrain at the limit of the vehicle's mechanical systems and at, or beyond, human-driven speeds and efficiencies.

APL-UW researchers are collaborating with a team from the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science + Engineering, with Byron Boots as the UW team's principal investigator.

Their approach uses only onboard sensors and computers and does not reference GPS or predefined maps for localization. The team conducts autonomous vehicle testing in a variety of terrain and weather conditions in the State of Washington.

Off-road terrain presents unique challenges for autonomous driving: steep slopes, ditches, rocks, vegetation, and ever-changing weather conditions. To ensure that our software stack is robust to anything it may encounter, we are constantly in the field testing and learning. These field activities in late 2022 and early 2023 included our initial work with fully unoccupied vehicles.

This test is on the Medium Loop course, a short run that features a dirt trail through forest, muddy open fields, and a creek crossing.

This test is on the Off Trail course, a short run that features unstructured terrain with scattered tree obstacles, very muddy forest trails, a number of drainage ditches and mounds, and a hairpin turn.

This test is a reversal of the Off Trail course, a short run that features unstructured terrain with scattered tree obstacles, very muddy forest trails, a number of drainage ditches and mounds, and a hairpin turn.