[Lokibob]

 

 

 

 

DARPA intends to conduct a race of autonomous ground vehicles from the vicinity of Los Angeles to Las Vegas in 2004. A cash prize will be awarded to the winner. The purpose of the race is to encourage the accelerated development of autonomous vehicle technologies that could be applied to military requirements.

---

 

Vehicles

Vehicles must be unmanned (no humans or other biological entities onboard) and autonomous.  They must not be remotely driven.  

Only single independent, untethered ground vehicles are eligible.  No sub-vehicles will be allowed.  All computing and intelligence must be contained onboard.  Apart from the emergency stop feature (see Safety), automatic communication with autonomous equipment at the checkpoints (see Checkpoints) and GPS signals, no external communication is allowed.
 
There is no size, weight, or propulsion limit on the ground vehicle; the nature of the course will dictate practical limits.  

---

The race will be held on February 28, 2004.

---

 

Other details are on the web site.  First prize is $1,000,000.

[Objectivism USA]

Bomb plot foiled in Colombia - Authorities find five cars packed with explosives
Houston Chronicle ^ | December 12, 2002 | Reuters News Service
Posted on 12/12/2002 1:35 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife

"The cars, each packed with at least 550 pounds of explosives, were rigged with remote control devices that would allow the bombers to guide the vehicles to targets, which, the police said, included their headquarters and a bus station."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/805150/posts

[Asclepius]

The military already has autonomous vehicles. They call them marines. They're dumb as rocks, but they can fight like grim death in conditions as hostile as the surface of the moon.

[avg_freeper]

Cool! This is like the great sea plane races from 1910 - 1940 that drove the aviation industry.

[Drango]

All computing and intelligence must be contained onboard.

Dang...that leaves out the Greyhound bus driver...

[dead]

Vehicles must be unmanned (no humans or other biological entities onboard) and autonomous.

Gore's gonna drive one.

[Nick Danger]

[Willie Green]

Vehicles must be unmanned (no humans or other biological entities onboard) and autonomous.

The official Administration position is that such vehicles already exist.

Bush opens border to Mexican trucks.
Las Vegas among top destinations for Hispanic immigrants

[DannyTN]

Brilliant.

The faster we can turn all cars to autonomous driving, the faster we save billions in productivity and medical costs, not to mention lawsuits and insurance.

This can advance both military and the domestic economy.

We need more support of technologies like this.

[Bush2000]

Uh oh. SkyNet lives. Better get a German shepherd. And a laser pulse rifle. The cyborgs are coming... ;-p

[pabianice]

"Hey, Martha! There's a f*****g car in the shower and it's ... oh, crap!

[Jonah Hex]

But will they stop at the world's largest thermometer in Baker?

(grin)

[Jhoffa_]

[Physicist]

According to the rules, do the vehicles have to stick to the road and obey speed limits?

It also raises an interesting legal question: should the vehicle exceed speed limits, who would be served with the ticket? Laws against speeding are enforced against the driver, not against the owner of the vehicle. Hmm...

[Governor William J. LePetomane]

My money is on this guy...

[Abcdefg]

No offense, but I don't believe it. There is no way unmanned vehicles are going to be turned loose where they could hurt someone.

[Fiddlstix]

Bump