SCORE leading next week's course survey
DARPA Announces Updated Plans
For $1 million DARPA Grand Challenge
36 Teams Have Officially Submitted Applications to date
For 2004 Autonomous Robotic Ground Vehicle Challenge

WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 7, 2003) -- As the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Grand Challenge for autonomous robotic ground vehicles draws closer, DARPA's plans for the event are beginning to take shape.

Scheduled for March 13, 2004, the DARPA Grand Challenge will cover a course of approximately 250 miles between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and the team that most quickly completes the route in less than the prescribed time will receive a cash prize of $1 million. This challenge is intended to spur the accelerated development of autonomous robotic ground vehicle technology for military applications, and is the first in a series of DARPA Grand Challenges planned by DARPA.

Developing the DARPA Grand Challenge course has been DARPA's primary focus since the beginning of the year, and organizers have worked to identify routes that are not only safe and avoid environmentally protected areas, but also offer a variety of rigorous terrain types. With significant assistance from desert racing group SCORE International,

the DARPA Grand Challenge team has mapped three different possible courses, and worked closely with appropriate federal, state and local authorities to gain the necessary permits. The starting line is now set for Barstow, CA, northeast of Los Angeles, and will finish somewhere in the vicinity of Las Vegas.

SCORE CEO/President Sal Fish will lead the DARPA course survey team to the Mojave desert next Monday (August 11) for another week of methodical detailed plotting and identifying the three proposed routes being considered.

"We have an incredible survey group that has learned nearly as much in just several trips to the Southern California and Southern Nevada deserts as it has taken 30 years for me to learn," said Fish, whose SCORE International this year is celebrating 30 years as the world's premier desert racing organization. "The technology being used is the most sophisticated and finely developed that I have ever been associated with in all my experience."

The large DARPA Grand Challenge team also benefits by using BFGoodrich Tire-shod Hummer H2 vehicles to maneuver comfortably and effectivelyaround the rugged desert during these extensive course survey expeditions.

To date, 36 teams with a wide variety of backgrounds have officially submitted applications to participate in the inaugural DARPA Grand Challenge. In keeping with DARPA's goal of fostering fresh thinking by attracting non-traditional participants, applicants range from major universities with corporate partners to amateur robotics and off-road racing enthusiasts. Each team must submit a technical paper on their vehicle by October 14, and the field will be finalized after the review of technical papers is complete on October 28.

"Although the DAPRA Grand Challenge is still seven months away, it already has gained extensive international media coverage," Fish added.

"Interest continues to grow as the event draws closer, and organizers are working to ensure that it is as media-friendly as possible."

There will be a series of media events during the week leading up to the DARPA Grand Challenge, starting with a press briefing and ceremonial ribbon-cutting at the DARPA Tech symposium in Anaheim. The day before the Grand Challenge, all vehicles will participate in a qualification, technical inspection and demonstration event at the California Speedway outside Los Angeles, a free public event that will include a news conference and team photo-ops.

Media events on the day of the DARPA Grand Challenge will include news conferences at the start and finish lines, as well as media access points along the course. A media tent near the starting line will allow reporters to cover the event on site, and risers near the starting line will provide photographers and TV crews with unobstructed sight lines to the starting line. A leader board and webcast in the media tent will continuously update reporters at the starting line area.

Interested reporters and documentary producers are encouraged to visit the media section of the Grand Challenge web site for new information on the event. Listed below are the major upcoming milestones for media coverage in the Grand Challenge.

October 14, 2003: Application Period Closes, Technical Papers Due
October 28, 2003: Technical Paper Review Complete, Field Announced
March 10, 2004: DARPA-Tech Ceremonial Start (Anaheim, CA Convention Center)
March 12, 2004: Qualification, Inspection and Demonstration Event (California Speedway, Los Angeles)
March 13, 2004: Grand Challenge Main Event (Barstow, CA to near Las Vegas)
March 14, 2004: Recognition Ceremony (Las Vegas) The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is the central research and development organization for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

The Agency manages and directs basic and applied research and development projects for DoD, and pursues research and technology where the risk and payoff are both very high and where success may provide dramatic advances for traditional military roles and missions.

SCORE International, based in Los Angeles, sanctions and produces the six-race SCORE Desert Series, with three events each in Southern Nevada and Baja California, Mexico.

Round 5 of the 2003 SCORE Desert Series will be the 8th SCORE Las Vegas Primm 300, Sept. 12-13, in Primm, NV, 40 miles south of Las Vegas on the California border.

For information contact:
SCORE International at its Los Angeles headquarters
(818) 225-8402 or visit
the official Optima SCORE Desert Series website at:
www.score-international.com