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Stanley, the Volkswagen Touareg that won a $2 million desert road race all on its own — in a sense — bears a logo that plays off its manufacturer’s slogan. “Drivers not required.” The robotic SUV finished first in a 132-mile trek across the rugged and twisting Nevada desert, in what may be an early step toward getting vehicles to do their own driving for everything from war-zone supply missions to morning commutes.

PRIMM, Nevada (Reuters) - A Stanford University team won a $2 million prize on Sunday for sending a modified Volkswagen across 132 miles of rugged desert, guided only by sensors and computers in a race the Pentagon hopes will lead to a technological breakthrough in warfare. Twenty-three driverless vehicles were sent into the Mojave Desert on Saturday in a race sponsored by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, known as DARPA. After extending the race a day to allow a slow-moving robotic vehicle to finish, the Stanford University vehicle, known as Stanley, was declared the winner of the Grand...

OCT. 9 3:56 P.M. ET A driverless Volkswagen won a $2 million race across the rugged Nevada desert Sunday, beating four other robot-guided vehicles that completed a Pentagon-sponsored contest aimed at making warfare safer for humans. The race displayed major technological leaps since last year's inaugural race, when none of the self-driving vehicles crossed the finish line. Stanley the Volkswagen, designed by Stanford University, zipped through the 132-mile Mojave Desert course in six hours and 53 minutes Saturday, using only its computer brain and sensors to navigate rough and twisting desert and mountain trails.

"Stanford engineers steered the world toward a new era of driverless vehicles Saturday when their robotic Volkswagen SUV was the first to cross the finish line after a 132-mile race across the Nevada desert...The best showing last year was turned in by a Carnegie Mellon robo-Hummer nicknamed Sandstorm, which went just 7.4 miles in that 142-mile course before it strayed off the road and spun its wheels until the rubber burned. Yet even that ignoble finish fired the imaginations of inventors and hobbyists, who responded in even greater numbers to DARPA's 2005 challenge. In contrast to the 15 teams that...

PRIMM, Nev., Oct. 8 - Fifteen robotic vehicles sprinted through the Nevada desert Saturday afternoon, closing in on a $2 million prize from the Pentagon meant to spur development of technologies for 21st century automated warfare. The vehicles were the survivors from an original starting field of 23 teams fielded by alliances of computer, automotive and aerospace companies, university researchers and others. The competition, called the Grand Challenge, was organized by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa, and was designed to tap into the talents of a wide range of researchers and innovators who might not otherwise be...

Three driverless robotic vehicles led by Stanford University on Saturday crossed the finish line of a $2 million Pentagon-sponsored robot race across the rugged Mojave Desert. The race announcer did not immediately declare a winner because 22 out of the 23 robots left the starting line at staggered times at dawn, racing against the clock rather than each other. As Stanford's Volkswagen robot dubbed Stanley crossed the finish line, a group of Stanford students erupted into cheers and carried their team leader, Sebastian Thrun, on their shoulders. "The impossible has been achieved," said Thrun, throwing his cap into the crowd....

Race about to end with 125 miles of 132 run in 7 hr 10 min. Looks like $2mil payout to Stanford!!! DARPA site with race status board is at http://www.grandchallenge.org/

Twenty-three self-driving robotic racers are gearing up to battle across the Mojave desert, in Nevada, in the Grand Challenge race on Saturday. The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (Darpa) challenging competition offers a $2m (£1.1m) prize. But the vehicles have to negotiate 240km of tough rocky and hilly terrain on their own. Last year, none finished. The driverless vehicles range from souped-up SUVs (sports utility vehicles) to hi-tech dune buggies. The race is organised by the Pentagon's defence agency to push research into autonomous vehicles for the US military. This year it has doubled the prize fund for...

MOJAVE - It's a long way from the woods and waters around Ithaca, N.Y., to the desert scrub of Mojave, but it's a trek worth taking if you're looking to test an unmanned vehicle capable of crossing rugged desert terrain all by itself. Oh, and it could net you a $2 million prize and untold prestige. Looking to win the DARPA Grand Challenge race this fall, the team from Cornell University has set up shop at a Mojave Airport hangar this summer, perfecting and testing their vehicle in an environment similar to the one they will face come race day....

Semifinalists Named in $2 Million Mojave Desert Robot RaceBy Alicia Chang The Associated Press Published: Jun 6, 2005 LOS ANGELES (AP) - Let the battle of the machines begin again. Forty self-navigating robots were chosen Monday to compete in the Oct. 8 sequel to last year's first-ever robot race across the Mojave Desert. Only half of the semifinalists will qualify for a spot on the starting line, based on how they maneuver - without human help - through a series of obstacle courses. The stakes are higher this time around: Organizers of the Pentagon-sponsored race doubled the prize money after...

DARPA Grand Challenge 2005 set for October 8, 2005. The second DARPA Grand Challenge, a field test designed to accelerate research and development in autonomous ground vehicles that someday will help save lives on the battlefield, will be held on October 8, 2005. Latest Information... DARPA Issues Preliminary Rules For Community Feedback. More details DARPA Grand Challenge 2005 team applications will be available at the Participants Conference on August 14. Applications will be accepted by DARPA until February 11, 2005. Press Release Alert! Pre-registration for attendance at the DARPA Grand Challenge 2005 Participants Conference closes August 6th. This informational event...

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"/> March 14, 2004 A Soapbox Derby for the War-Games SetBy JOHN MARKOFFand JOHN M. BRODER ARSTOW, Calif., March 13 — Fifteen robot vehicles took off across the Mojave Desert starting at dawn on Saturday, dodging boulders and 15-pound tortoises in search of a place in scientific history and $1 million in Pentagon cash. In the end there was no winner and none of the machines came close to completing the 142-mile race, over some of the most forbidding terrain on the planet. However, the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon skunk-works research...

BARSTOW, Calif. - A $1 million race across the Mojave Desert by driverless robots ended Saturday after all 15 entries either broke down or withdrew, a race official said. Two of the entries covered about seven miles of the roughly 150-mile course while eight failed to make it to the one-mile mark. Others crashed seconds after starting. The race ended after about four hours when the final competitors were disabled, said Col. Jose Negron, race program manager. Competitors suffered a variety of problems that included stuck brakes, broken axles, rollovers and malfunctioning satellite navigation equipment. One six-wheeled robot built by...

The first of 15 driverless robots began trundling across the Mojave Desert on Saturday in an unprecedented race for $1 million in government-funded prize money. First out of the gate was Carnegie Mellon University's converted Humvee, nicknamed Sandstorm, which took off at a fast clip. Within 15 minutes it had covered five miles of the roughly 150-mile course. "That's amazing. It's moving. It's moving. For a million dollars, I'd move too," said spectator Arturo Martinez. The vehicles were leaving the starting line at staggered times, racing against the clock rather than each other. The Pentagon's research and development agency plans...

The robots are coming.   At dawn today (about 9 a.m. EST), 15 of the strangest looking vehicles ever to put rubber to the road will rev their engines at Barstow's Slash X bar and barbecue and head out into the Mojave Desert.   Officially, the destination is Primm, Nev., a glitzy casino resort 200 miles to the east. But the real race is not to Primm. This is a race into the future.   A big red Humvee called Sandstorm, built by a robotics team from Carnegie Mellon University, will have the pole position, thanks to its fastest time...

Enthusiasm is building at California Motor Speedway in Fontana, Calif., as 21 unmanned ground vehicles prepare to face off against the clock this weekend while traversing 200 miles of rugged terrain. The first-of-its-kind DARPA Grand Challenge, sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, will pit an array of innovative vehicles against battlefield-like conditions between Barstow, Calif., and Primm, Nev. The event includes an enticing payoff for the top-placing team that completes the course in less than 10 hours: $1 million cash. Race time is 6:30 a.m. PST, March 13. The course — to be revealed just two hours before...

LAKE LOS ANGELES - The dune buggy scrambling across the desert, working around bushes and other obstacles in its path, may not look like anything extraordinary. But take a closer look and you realize it's crossing the desert by itself, with no driver behind the wheel. This high-tech vehicle is the brainchild of a diverse group of scientists and engineers who hope to win the $1 million grand prize in Saturday's DARPA Grand Challenge race. The race, sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, requires the completely autonomous, unmanned vehicles to traverse a 212-mile route across the Mojave Desert...

Grand Challenge Overview DARPA intends to conduct a challenge of autonomous ground vehicles between Los Angeles and Las Vegas in March of 2004. A cash award of $1 million will be granted to the team that fields the first vehicle to complete the designated route within a specified time limit. The purpose of the challenge is to leverage American ingenuity to accelerate the development of autonomous vehicle technologies that can be applied to military requirements. Many of the details of the event are being developed, and new information will be posted to this web site as soon as possible.

CHICAGO — Ground-based transportation will take a new turn in mid-March as 20 driverless vehicles — described as supercomputers on wheels — race across the southern California desert in a million-dollar, winner-take-all competition sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Darpa's Grand Challenge race, possibly the most daunting test ever for robotic technology, will take the vehicles over sand dunes, through valleys and across rivers at speeds up to 60 mph. Covering a course stretching from Barstow, Calif., to Las Vegas, it will call on the vehicles to traverse almost 250 miles in less than 10 hours, all without...

Teams of scientists, engineers and students from across the United States are gearing up for what may be the most unique land race in the country; a contest run by robots vying to be the first vehicle to reach Las Vegas and win $1 million for its builders. The race, known as the Grand Challenge, is the brainchild of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and aimed at boosting the development of autonomous vehicles that could find uses in the American military. Out of an original 86 applicants, 25 were selected by DARPA officials to run the race, with...