Team Jefferson

Tommy Jr. has been recently featured on Discovery Science's Robocars series. Here is a video also posted on YouTube of Tommy Jr. going through some of his motions:

DARPA today announced that 36 teams will advance to the DARPA Urban Challenge qualifiers. Team Jefferson is one of them. Congrats to all team Tommy members and supporters. Major thanks go to the team's sponsors, without whose support, none of this would be possible!

Team Jefferson has a new blog at Scionlife.com. The Scion is a great vehicle, and it has a thriving aftermarket community. So we decided to give people the opportunity to see what could be done with their Scion, if they had the time, expertise, and interest.

Team Jefferson recently released a new video on Tommy Jr. This video shows some footage of Tommy Jr during his DARPA Urban Challenge site visit performing passing, intersection handling, and U-turn maneuvers. Additional footage of Tommy Jr during pre site-visit testing and participation in a local July 4th parade is also shown.

Tommy Jr visits the University of Virginia School of Engineering during a show and tell for middle schoolers. Read all about 'Tommy Jr.' Car Goes to Robotics Camp.

"I think it's pretty cool," said 12-year-old Nell Ackerman of Charlottesville.

"We watched a movie about cars like these, but I didn't think I'd actually get to see one," she continued. "I think it's really amazing how the wheel actually turns while it goes, because it's like a ghost is driving it."

It's been a busy few weeks as the team has demonstrated Tommy Junior's capabilities during their DARPA site visit, to middle schoolers at a University of Virginia robotics camp, during a local 4th of July parade, to a crew from the Discovery Channel filming a segment on Team Jefferson and Tommy Junior, and now to a group of kids from a local summer science camp. A group of rising second, third, and fourth graders who participate in a local outreach program stopped by the Tommy shop today to see Tommy (senior) and Tommy Junior.

Team Jefferson aces their DARPA Urban Challenge site visit. As the sun beat down upon a parking lot in Richmond, Virginia, the team and Tommy Jr conducted a number of autonomous runs with DARPA officials watching. The team successfully demonstrated maneuvers with Tom Jr passing parked cars, stopping at stop lines, waiting for intersections to clear before proceeding, U-turns, and other intelligent driving behaviors.

The Daily Progress talked with us extensively to give a nice overview of what we're up to recently, especially with respect to the DARPA Urban Challenge.

"We’ve done all this with a whole lot less support and sponsorship than some of the bigger teams, and I think it shows the ingenuity that’s available and the robustness of Perrone Robotics," Britt-Crane said.

Mike Woosley, operations manager for Team Jefferson, said the group’s thrifty management also sends "a good message for DARPA: you don’t have to spend $10 million" on this kind of technology.

Team Jefferson is one of 53 teams to receive a site visit from DARPA.

Team Jefferson completes video submission to DARPA for site visit consideration.