After this year's rather simple start, the geeks involved in Open Source development have gotten a start on next year's challenge. SourceFourge.Net, a website dedicated to encouraging the development and sharing of Open Source projects, already has 3 different projects listed that are geared at building a suitable Operating System (OS) for autonomous vehicles.

The first is called Open Source Autonomous Ground Vehicle. Their summary reads as follows:  "Open Source Autonomous Ground Vehicle software written using Borland development tools (Delphi 7, Delphi 8 and Kylix 3) ". You can learn more about it at http://sourceforge.net/projects/osagv/.

The next is called DARPA - Autonomous Vehicle Control System. Their summary reads as follows: "DARPA Grand Challenge - autonomous command and control system. A complete system (Written in Java - and some c) which takes real world input, (location info, etc...) and operates on a set of rules and limitation parameters. Output is basic drive instruct." You can learn more about it at http://sourceforge.net/projects/avcons/.

The last (but certainly more will follow) is called ANUBIS - Autonomous Navigation System. Their summary reads as follows: "An Autonomous Navigation and Control System for machine guidance. Integrates code for various sensor systems such as machine vision, GPS and INS, proximity sensor awareness and overall system health and control. Written in C for Linux/Unix." You can learn more abou their efforts at http://sourceforge.net/projects/darpa2005/.