Grand Challenge 2005 Site Visits Announced
118 Teams Selected

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced that 118 Grand Challenge 2005 teams have been selected to receive visits by DARPA personnel for in-depth, on-site evaluations of their autonomous vehicles.

From May 2 to May 15, 2005, DARPA personnel will visit the 118 teams at locations across the U.S. to assess each team’s autonomous vehicle’s capabilities on a 200-meter test course. The vehicles will be evaluated on their ability to navigate among waypoints, stay within course boundaries, and avoid randomly placed obstacles.

The site visits are an essential element of the qualification process for the Grand Challenge and will enable a realistic assessment of a vehicle’s potential to complete the Grand Challenge course. According to the Grand Challenge 2005 Program Manager, Ron Kurjanowicz, “Site visits give DARPA a chance to meet the personnel, evaluate the autonomous operation of the vehicles, and assess other vehicle qualities required for a team’s vehicle to finish the Grand Challenge route across the desert.” The list of teams selected for site visits is below and on the official website at www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge.

DARPA will use the site visit results to invite the top 40 teams to the Grand Challenge National Qualification Event, September 27 to October 5, 2005, at the California Speedway in Fontana, California.

Kurjanowicz said the teams are working hard to ready their vehicles for the DARPA site visits and reiterated DARPA’s appreciation for the enthusiastic response to the Grand Challenge from innovators across the United States and abroad. “A robust community of inventors, engineers, mechanics, students, and scientists has risen to meet the challenge to develop innovative autonomous vehicle capabilities that will save lives on the battlefield.”

DARPA Grand Challenge 2005 is a field test of autonomous ground vehicles for the purpose of advancing autonomous vehicle technology. The vehicles must travel approximately 150 miles over rugged desert roads using only onboard sensors and navigation equipment to find and follow the route and avoid obstacles. DARPA will award $2 million to the team whose autonomous vehicle successfully completes the 2005 route the fastest within a 10-hour time period. Teams are developing their vehicles without Government funding.

The teams selected for site visits are listed below. Based on the results of the site visits, DARPA will select 40 teams for the Grand Challenge 2005 National Qualification Event.

DARPA is the central research and development organization for the U.S. Department of Defense. The agency manages basic and applied research and development projects for the DoD, and pursues research in technology areas where the risk and payoff are both very high and where success may provide dramatic advances for traditional military roles and missions.