We have information on two vehicles that competed. We chose these vehicles because they represent both sides of the spectrum in regards to budget and resources. Both the Hummer and the F150 are the results of immense effort and ingenuity, with the intention of participating in one of the grandest challenges.

DARPA conducted a challenge of autonomous ground vehicles between Barstow, CA. and Primm, NV. A cash award of $1 million would have been granted to the team that fielded the first vehicle to complete the designated route, but none went farther than 7 miles. The purpose of the challenge was to leverage American ingenuity to accelerate the development of autonomous vehicle technologies that can be applied to military requirements. Our sources tell us that DARPA will attempt the Grand Challenge again. It appears that DARPA will present a new Grand Challenge next year with a larger cash prize of $2 million . We'll keep you posted, just incase you feel like entering that truck of yours sitting in the garage.

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Barstow - The start line was at the Slash X, an old ranch converted to a Restaurant and roadside stop about 8 miles south of Barstow on the 247. This is the kind of place that still has "freedom fries" instead of french fries on the menu.

Results

1. Red Team, 7.2 miles. The real story: they took a hairpin turn a little wide and dropped the two right wheels off the side (apparently quite the drop-off, but they never went over the cliff). The two left wheels started spinning like crazy, and eventually ripped the tires apart. The smoke from the tires gave the appearance of a fire, leading to the false report of a fire from one helicopter pilot. Although the DARPA guys we talked to who were following that vehicle said the melted pieces of rubber thrown 80 feet into the air were fairly unpleasant.
2. Sciautonics II, 6.5 miles, which high sided on a 60 degree hill.
3. Team Digital Auto Drive, 6 miles. Not sure what stopped them.
4. Golem group, 5.2 miles, stalled on a hill. The lowest-budget, true independent team, managed to beat most of the big university and corporate sponsored teams! Quite the underdog story, if you ask me.
5+ Terramax, Caltech, and several others didn't get more than about a mile out...more