CMU the favorite in robot race across Mojave

February 23, 2004 | Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On March 13, up to 20 robotic vehicles will compete in a $1 million Grand Challenge race sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The winner will be the first machine to cover the still-undisclosed route from somewhere outside Barstow, Calif., to somewhere in the vicinity of Las Vegas within 10 hours.

No robot has ever done anything like this. Never has an autonomous vehicle gone so far, so fast without any human intervention. It’s quite possible, DARPA officials acknowledge, that no one will win the inaugural race.