Tough Course Planned for Grand Challenge

Posted 7 May 2003 at 20:51 UTC by The Swirling Brain

Wired has a new article about how smart robot autos tough it out, which is about the Darpa Grand Challenge. The Darpa Grand Challenge is a $1 million dollar prize for a robotic vehicles to trek from Los Angeles to Las Vegas autonomously (ie: no human intervention). The challenge is scheduled for March 2004 and as time draws near, and excitement builds, we'll probably see more and more of these articles. The article states that the course will not be easy with plenty of obstacles and only two hours foreknowlege of the course. Another thing I found interesting about this particular article was that one man's estimate of the cost of the vehicles was a minimum of $500K, so that $1 million dollar prize doesn't seem so big anymore. I guess we probably won't be seeing a PIC on an old Jeep, then?

This has all be discussed before: Discussion Forum, Post-Gazette Article, Previous Update, Previous Update, Rules, $1 million Prize.

It's deliberate, posted 8 May 2003 at 15:46 UTC by earlwb » (Master)

DARPA is deliberately making the course tough so that no one will win. Thus they won't have to payout the money. Plus if someone does win, they'll figure out a way to disqualify them too. Then DARPA can grab what they want in the way of technology from all the losers.

Limited Time Only, posted 8 May 2003 at 21:38 UTC by The Swirling Brain » (Master)

That's the impression I got that it was deliberate. The fact that they'll only offer the prize until 2007 sounds like they calculated just how long it'll take for someone to get good enough and by they they won't offer the prize anymore. But, everyone knows that the prize money isn't the REAL reason these guys are competing anyway, it's just for the fun of it, right?