I don't know how many of you follow the Darpa Grand Challenge news, but I watch it like a hawk, because I find the whole autonomous vehicle technology extremely interesting. They had a press release today naming the site and the ones who qualified to compete for the Darpa Grand Urban Challenge. The site is going to be the now-closed George Air Force Base, in Victorville, California and is going to take place on November 3, 2007. Here (.pdf file) is the official announcement with the entire list of qualifying teams, place, etc.. (37 semifinalists, of which 20 will compete in the eventual competition after the next cut)
For those of you that aren't familiar with it, it is a monetary competition ($2 million for first place, $1 million for second, $500k for third) in which teams will attempt to have their vehicles maneuver autonomously (i.e. without a human driver) through a setting that is typical in an urban environment. The vehicle has to be aware of other vehicles, road signs, etc. The last competition was the regular 2005 Darpa Grand Challenge where the vehicles had to maneuver through a desert road for a 212.4 km (132-mile) long course, which was pretty astonishing because the previous year (2004 - the first year of the competition) the furthest team made it 11.78 km (7.36 miles). The technology in this arena is really growing in leaps and bounds.
For more information on it, I would recommend going to the wikipedia page on it.
Edited by Live Forever, 10 August 2007 - 06:23 AM.