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🚗 From a Hands-Free Journey to Autonomous Taxis: How a 1995 Journey Anticipated the Future of Mobility

In 1995, researchers at Carnegie Mellon traveled 4,800 kilometers without touching the steering wheel. Thirty years later, that experimental feat is reflected in the expansion of autonomous taxis in several cities in the United States.

Thirty years before driverless vehicles began to circulate on the streets of Phoenix or San Francisco, a group of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University made a demonstration that seemed to come out of a futuristic movie. In 1995, aboard a modified Pontiac Trans Sport, they traveled 4,800 kilometers from Pittsburgh to San Diego without putting their hands on the wheel, in a journey dubbed "No Hands Across America".

The experience, which combined computer vision, experimental sensors and pioneering software, marked a before and after in autonomous driving research in the United States.

🧪 An experiment that paved the way

The vehicle used, known as Navlab 5, was part of a series of prototypes developed by Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute since the mid-1980s. Its driving system, called RALPH (Rapidly Adapting Lateral Position Handler), analyzed in real time the images captured by a front camera to identify lanes, edges and visual references of the road.

Researchers Dean Pomerleau and Todd Jochem only intervened to accelerate or brake; the steering was automated 98% of the way, an absolute record for the time. The initiative was sponsored by Delco Electronics, AssistWare Technology and the university itself.

Although the experiment did not have an immediate impact on the automotive industry, it did become an academic milestone that inspired subsequent projects, including the DARPA Grand Challenge of the 2000s, fundamental to the development of modern autonomous driving.

🚕 Thirty years later: autonomous taxis are here

Today, three decades after that experimental journey, the fruits of that work are seen in the proliferation of autonomous taxis in cities such as Phoenix, San Francisco, Austin and Las Vegas. Companies such as Waymo, Cruise and Zoox operate fleets that transport driverless passengers, using LIDAR sensors, radars, multispectral cameras and artificial intelligence systems trained on millions of miles of data.

What in 1995 was a bold experiment, today is a commercial service that is beginning to be integrated into urban life, with specific regulations and debates on safety, privacy and coexistence with traditional traffic.

🔄 From a university prototype to a multibillion-dollar industry

The evolution from Navlab 5 to today's autonomous taxis involved advances on multiple fronts:

• Computer vision: from a single camera to multispectral systems.
• Sensors: incorporation of LIDAR, radar and ultrasound.
• Processing: from experimental computers to specialized chips.
• Mapping: from simple routes to dynamic HD maps.
• Artificial intelligence: from linear algorithms to deep neural networks.

Each of these steps was made possible by decades of research accumulated since Carnegie Mellon's first projects.

🌐 A legacy that is still in motion

The "No Hands Across America" journey not only proved that a vehicle could stay in its lane for thousands of miles; It also inaugurated a vision that today materializes in autonomous services that are beginning to be part of the urban landscape.

What seemed like a reckless experiment in 1995 is now an expanding industry that redefines mobility and poses new technological, ethical and regulatory challenges.

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