Engineering contests help to fuel the development of new technologies but also give students hands-on experience of the challenges they will face in professional life. Junior is a good driver, but with one or two teething problems. He brakes smoothly but hasn't yet got the hang of easing up at the end to avoid a jarring stop. It's understandable, as "Junior" is a heavily modified Volkswagen Passat station wagon co-developed by the manufacturer's electronic research laboratory and Stanford University in the US. He's intended to operate as an autonomous vehicle, capable of driving safely along a busy road under normal traffic conditions with no human intervention.
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