DARPA Grand Challenge (2005)
Encyclopedia
The second driverless car
competition of the DARPA Grand Challenge
was a 212 km (131.7 mi) off-road course that began at 6:40am on October 8, 2005. All but one of the 23 finalists in the 2005 race surpassed the 11.78 km (7.3 mi) distance completed by the best vehicle in the 2004 race. Five vehicles successfully completed the race:
Vehicles in the 2005 race passed through three narrow tunnels and navigated more than 100 sharp left and right turns. The race concluded through Beer Bottle Pass, a winding mountain pass with sheer drop-offs on both sides. Although the 2004 course required more elevation gain and some very sharp switchbacks (Daggett Ridge) were required near the beginning of the route, the course had far fewer curves and generally wider roads than the 2005 course.
The natural rivalry between the teams from Stanford and Carnegie Mellon (Sebastian Thrun
, head of the Stanford team was previously a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon and colleague of Red Whittaker, head of the CMU team) was played out during the race. Mechanical problems plagued H1ghlander before it was passed by Stanley. Gray Team’s entry was a miracle in itself, as the team from the suburbs of New Orleans was caught in Hurricane Katrina
a few short months before the race. The fifth finisher, Terramax, a 30,000 pound entry from Oshkosh
Truck, finished on the second day. The huge truck spent the night idling on the course, and was particularly nimble in carefully picking its way down the narrow roads of Beer Bottle Pass.
The National Qualification Event was held at California Speedway
in Fontana
from September 27 through October 5. The results of the NQE were used to cut the 43 teams down to 23 for the race on October 8.
Vehicle performances at the NQE were judged by (1) elapsed time to complete the course; (2) number of obstacles successfully passed without contact; (3) number of gates successfully passed. DARPA did not reveal the relative importance of these three factors. DARPA's final ranking of the vehicles, for purposes of pole position in the Grand Challenge Event (GCE), may have been partly subjective.
The results of the 2005 DARPA NQEs are shown below sorted top to bottom by runs completed and gates passed, compiled from DARPA's published NQE results. This ordering does not correspond to DARPA's ranking of team performance. (For example, this ordering does not reflect speed as an element of performance.) Teams highlighted in green were the teams that DARPA selected to participate in the Grand Challenge desert race.
There were four NQE runs. The above four major columns are sorted from worst to best runs of each team. "Time" signifies the time in minutes for a completed run and "x" indicates an incomplete run. "Gates" indicates the number of gates along the track that were passed (there were 50 total per run). "Obstacles" indicates the number of obstacles on the track that were passed (there were 5 total per run). "Finishes" indicates the total number of runs that the team successfully completed (there were 4 runs total). "Total Gates" indicates the total number of gates that the team successfully passed. The teams are sorted from top to bottom according to runs completed and then by total gates passed. Teams indicated as a "desert race participant" are those teams invited by DARPA to participate in the Grand Challenge desert race. Source data
For the first and second run, only 4 obstacles were present whereas for the third and fourth runs 5 obstacles were present. The NQE results presented in the table above show each team's runs sorted left to right from their worst run to their best run in order to better illustrate relative ranking (i.e. not in order of the actual run sequence).
On October 6, the selected teams transported their robots to the starting location. On October 7 the teams had a day to fix any portions of the robots broken in the course of transportation prior to the actual race.
The route to be followed by the robots was supplied to the teams two hours before the start as a computer file with GPS coordinates, one every 72 m (237 feet) of the route, with more frequent waypoints in difficult patches. Some teams used topographic maps and aerial imagery to manually map out and program precise path and speed settings. Once the race had started, the robots were not allowed to contact humans in any way.
Each robot started at a different time and was "paused" for different amounts of time during the race; DARPA compensated for the staggered start times and subtracted the pause time from each robot's total to derive its final official time. The $2 million prize was awarded on Sunday, October 9, 2005.
The 2005 competitors were much more successful than those of 2004; only one failed to pass the 11.84 km (7.4 mi) mark set by the best-performing 2004 entry, Sandstorm
. By the end, 18 robots had been disabled and five robots finished the course. On the first day, Stanley
from Stanford University
, and H1ghlander
and Sandstorm
from Carnegie Mellon University
, finished within minutes of each other, with Stanley crossing the finish line first. Kat-5
from Gray Team started much later, but finished in a comparable time. The race paused overnight with one competitor, TerraMax, left on the course at mile 83; TerraMax had the stage to itself on Sunday as it belatedly rumbled home.
The winner of the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge was Stanley, with a course time of 6 hours 53 minutes and 8 seconds (6:53:08) with average speed of 30.7 km/h (19.1 mph). CMU's Sandstorm followed with 7:04:50 at 29.9 km/h (18.6 mph) and H1ghlander at 7:14:00 at 29.3 km/h (18.2 mph). Gray Team's Kat-5 came through at 7:30:16 with average speed of 28.2 km/h (17.5 mph). Oshkosh Truck's Terramax finished at 12:51 and would not have been eligible for the prize because it exceeded the ten-hour limit.
The Official Website (requires Flash player plugin) contained a map and positions of the competitors, while TG Daily posted a running summary of the day's events.
DNF = Did Not Finish
Driverless car
An autonomous car, also known as robotic or informally as driverless, is an autonomous vehicle capable of fulfilling the human transportation capabilities of a traditional car. As an autonomous vehicle, it is capable of sensing its environment and navigating on its own...
competition of the DARPA Grand Challenge
DARPA Grand Challenge
The DARPA Grand Challenge is a prize competition for driverless vehicles, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the most prominent research organization of the United States Department of Defense...
was a 212 km (131.7 mi) off-road course that began at 6:40am on October 8, 2005. All but one of the 23 finalists in the 2005 race surpassed the 11.78 km (7.3 mi) distance completed by the best vehicle in the 2004 race. Five vehicles successfully completed the race:
Vehicle | Team Name | Team Home | Time Taken (h:m) |
Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
Stanley Stanley (vehicle) Stanley is an autonomous vehicle created by Stanford University's Stanford Racing Team in cooperation with the Volkswagen Electronics Research Laboratory... |
Stanford Racing Team | Stanford University Stanford University The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San... , Palo Alto Palo Alto, California Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is... , California California California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area... |
6:54 | First place |
Sandstorm Sandstorm (vehicle) Sandstorm is an autonomous vehicle. Created by Carnegie Mellon University's Red Team, it is a heavily modified 1986 M998 HMMWV. It competed in the DARPA Grand Challenge in 2004 and 2005.Sandstorm qualified in first position in the 2004 DARPA Grand Challenge... |
Red Team | Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.... , Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States... , Pennsylvania Pennsylvania The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to... |
7:05 | Second place |
H1ghlander H1ghlander H1ghlander is an autonomous vehicle. Created by Carnegie Mellon University's Red Team, it is a heavily modified 1999 HUMMER H1. It competed in the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge.... |
Red Team Too | 7:14 | Third place | |
Kat-5 Kat-5 (vehicle) Kat-5 is an autonomous vehicle created by , an organization comprising employees from and students from Tulane University's , for the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge.-The vehicle:... |
Team Gray | The Gray Insurance Company, Metairie Metairie, Louisiana Metairie is a census-designated place in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States and is a major part of the New Orleans Metropolitan Area. Metairie is the largest community in Jefferson Parish. It is an unincorporated area that would be larger than most of the state's cities if it were... , Louisiana Louisiana Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties... |
7:30 | Fourth place |
TerraMax TerraMax (vehicle) TerraMax is an autonomous tactical cargo hauler fielded by Oshkosh Truck Corporation, University of Parma's Artificial Vision and Intelligent Systems Laboratory and Rockwell Collins, also known under the name of Big Truck Robotics, that participated in both the 2004 and 2005 DARPA Grand... |
Team TerraMax | Oshkosh Truck Corporation Oshkosh Truck Oshkosh Corporation , formerly Oshkosh Truck, designs and builds specialty trucks and truck bodies and access equipment. Based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the company employs 12,300 people around the world... , Oshkosh Oshkosh, Wisconsin As of the census of 2000, there were 62,916 people, 24,082 households, and 13,654 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,662.2 people per square mile . There were 25,420 housing units at an average density of 1,075.6 per square mile... , Wisconsin Wisconsin Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is... |
12:51 | Over 10 hour limit, fifth place |
Vehicles in the 2005 race passed through three narrow tunnels and navigated more than 100 sharp left and right turns. The race concluded through Beer Bottle Pass, a winding mountain pass with sheer drop-offs on both sides. Although the 2004 course required more elevation gain and some very sharp switchbacks (Daggett Ridge) were required near the beginning of the route, the course had far fewer curves and generally wider roads than the 2005 course.
The natural rivalry between the teams from Stanford and Carnegie Mellon (Sebastian Thrun
Sebastian Thrun
Sebastian Thrun is a Research Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University and former director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory . He led the development of the robotic vehicle Stanley which won the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge, and which is exhibited in the Smithsonian...
, head of the Stanford team was previously a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon and colleague of Red Whittaker, head of the CMU team) was played out during the race. Mechanical problems plagued H1ghlander before it was passed by Stanley. Gray Team’s entry was a miracle in itself, as the team from the suburbs of New Orleans was caught in Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
a few short months before the race. The fifth finisher, Terramax, a 30,000 pound entry from Oshkosh
Oshkosh Truck
Oshkosh Corporation , formerly Oshkosh Truck, designs and builds specialty trucks and truck bodies and access equipment. Based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the company employs 12,300 people around the world...
Truck, finished on the second day. The huge truck spent the night idling on the course, and was particularly nimble in carefully picking its way down the narrow roads of Beer Bottle Pass.
National Qualification Event (NQE)
Of the original 195 applicants, initially 40 teams were selected to participate in the National Qualification Event (NQE). Three teams were added on Aug. 23, 2005 to the semi-finalist 40 teams who were selected from site visits, sending 43 teams to the NQE.The National Qualification Event was held at California Speedway
California Speedway
Auto Club Speedway is a two-mile , low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in Fontana, California which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1997. The track was also used for open wheel racing events until 2005. The racetrack is located near the former locations of Ontario Motor Speedway and...
in Fontana
Fontana, California
Fontana is a city of 196,069 residents in San Bernardino County, California. Founded in 1913, it remained essentially rural until World War II, when entrepreneur Henry J. Kaiser built a large steel mill in the area...
from September 27 through October 5. The results of the NQE were used to cut the 43 teams down to 23 for the race on October 8.
Vehicle performances at the NQE were judged by (1) elapsed time to complete the course; (2) number of obstacles successfully passed without contact; (3) number of gates successfully passed. DARPA did not reveal the relative importance of these three factors. DARPA's final ranking of the vehicles, for purposes of pole position in the Grand Challenge Event (GCE), may have been partly subjective.
The results of the 2005 DARPA NQEs are shown below sorted top to bottom by runs completed and gates passed, compiled from DARPA's published NQE results. This ordering does not correspond to DARPA's ranking of team performance. (For example, this ordering does not reflect speed as an element of performance.) Teams highlighted in green were the teams that DARPA selected to participate in the Grand Challenge desert race.
Team name | Run 1 | Run 2 | Run 3 | Run 4 | Finishes | Total gates | Desert race participant | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Time | Gates | Obstacles | Time | Gates | Obstacles | Time | Gates | Obstacles | Time | Gates | Obstacles | ||||
Stanford | 10 | 50 | 4 | 9 | 50 | 4 | 11 | 50 | 5 | 11 | 50 | 5 | 4 | 200 | |
Red Team Too | 10 | 47 | 3 | 9 | 50 | 4 | 10 | 50 | 4 | 10 | 50 | 5 | 4 | 197 | |
Red Team | 9 | 47 | 4 | 10 | 48 | 5 | 11 | 49 | 5 | 9 | 50 | 4 | 4 | 194 | |
Terramax | 27 | 47 | 3 | 22 | 47 | 4 | 21 | 49 | 4 | 25 | 50 | 3 | 4 | 193 | |
Axion | 15 | 36 | 5 | 16 | 40 | 4 | 12 | 40 | 2 | 12 | 41 | 3 | 4 | 157 | |
IVST | x | 44 | 2 | 11 | 44 | 3 | 8 | 47 | 4 | 11 | 49 | 4 | 3 | 184 | |
Sciautionics | x | 22 | 1 | 16 | 46 | 4 | 14 | 48 | 4 | 14 | 48 | 5 | 3 | 164 | |
Buckeyes | x | 10 | 0 | 21 | 49 | 4 | 16 | 49 | 4 | 25 | 50 | 4 | 3 | 158 | |
Caltech | x | 21 | 0 | 16 | 44 | 5 | 12 | 44 | 4 | 16 | 49 | 5 | 3 | 158 | |
Cornell | x | 9 | 0 | 10 | 49 | 4 | 12 | 50 | 4 | 12 | 50 | 5 | 3 | 158 | |
VA Tech Rocky | x | 9 | 0 | 13 | 48 | 4 | 15 | 49 | 5 | 15 | 49 | 5 | 3 | 155 | |
Mojavaton | x | 20 | 1 | x | 30 | 1 | 15 | 47 | 2 | 16 | 48 | 2 | 2 | 145 | |
ENSCO | x | 19 | 0 | x | 21 | 0 | 13 | 44 | 4 | 15 | 50 | 4 | 2 | 134 | |
CIMAR | x | 9 | 0 | x | 30 | 1 | 15 | 46 | 4 | 13 | 47 | 3 | 2 | 132 | |
Golem | x | 0 | 0 | x | 31 | 1 | 9 | 49 | 4 | 12 | 50 | 5 | 2 | 130 | |
Insight Racing | x | 12 | 0 | x | 17 | 0 | 29 | 47 | 4 | 17 | 49 | 5 | 2 | 125 | |
DAD | x | 10 | 0 | x | 24 | 0 | 10 | 42 | 4 | 11 | 44 | 4 | 2 | 120 | |
MonsterMoto | x | 0 | 0 | x | 12 | 0 | 14 | 47 | 5 | 13 | 49 | 5 | 2 | 108 | |
Princeton | x | 0 | 0 | x | 9 | 0 | 13 | 48 | 4 | 12 | 50 | 5 | 2 | 107 | |
Team Jefferson | x | 10 | 0 | x | 16 | 0 | x | 36 | 1 | 18 | 49 | 5 | 1 | 111 | |
CajunBot | x | 0 | 0 | x | 18 | 0 | x | 29 | 1 | 16 | 49 | 4 | 1 | 96 | |
Austin | x | 5 | 0 | x | 21 | 0 | x | 22 | 0 | 52 | 45 | 4 | 1 | 93 | |
Grey Team | x | 2 | 0 | x | 14 | 0 | x | 15 | 0 | 16 | 48 | 5 | 1 | 79 | |
UCF | x | 6 | 0 | x | 8 | 0 | x | 17 | 0 | 28 | 47 | 5 | 1 | 78 | |
Va Tech GC Team | x | 0 | 0 | x | 5 | 0 | x | 16 | 0 | 17 | 44 | 3 | 1 | 65 | |
Banzai | x | 0 | 0 | x | 6 | 0 | x | 16 | 1 | 21 | 39 | 3 | 1 | 61 | |
Mitre | x | 0 | 0 | x | 0 | 0 | x | 10 | 0 | 21 | 44 | 5 | 1 | 54 | |
AION | x | 1 | 0 | x | 3 | 0 | x | 8 | 0 | 35 | 33 | 3 | 1 | 45 | |
Juggernaut | x | 8 | 0 | x | 15 | 0 | x | 17 | 0 | x | 36 | 1 | 0 | 76 | |
AI Motovators | x | 8 | 0 | x | 14 | 0 | x | 16 | 0 | x | 33 | 2 | 0 | 71 | |
Blue Team | x | 6 | 0 | x | 13 | 0 | x | 16 | 1 | x | 20 | 1 | 0 | 55 | |
Indy Robot Racing | x | 6 | 0 | x | 12 | 1 | x | 14 | 0 | x | 23 | 0 | 0 | 55 | |
Tormenta | x | 4 | 0 | x | 10 | 0 | x | 15 | 0 | x | 20 | 0 | 0 | 49 | |
CyberRider | x | 0 | 0 | x | 0 | 0 | x | 1 | 0 | x | 36 | 2 | 0 | 37 | |
Overbot | x | 4 | 0 | x | 6 | 0 | x | 10 | 0 | x | 11 | 0 | 0 | 31 | |
Terra Engineering | x | 0 | 0 | x | 6 | 0 | x | 7 | 0 | x | 14 | 0 | 0 | 27 | |
AVS | x | 0 | 0 | x | 3 | 0 | x | 7 | 0 | x | 16 | 0 | 0 | 26 | |
Autonosys | x | 0 | 0 | x | 0 | 0 | x | 9 | 0 | x | 14 | 0 | 0 | 23 | |
BJB Engineering | x | 0 | 0 | x | 0 | 0 | x | 2 | 0 | x | 13 | 0 | 0 | 15 | |
PVHS | x | 0 | 0 | x | 0 | 0 | x | 0 | 0 | x | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
Indiana Robotic Nav | x | 0 | 0 | x | 0 | 0 | x | 0 | 0 | x | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
Oregon Wave | x | 0 | 0 | x | 0 | 0 | x | 0 | 0 | x | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Underdawg | x | 0 | 0 | x | 0 | 0 | x | 0 | 0 | x | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
There were four NQE runs. The above four major columns are sorted from worst to best runs of each team. "Time" signifies the time in minutes for a completed run and "x" indicates an incomplete run. "Gates" indicates the number of gates along the track that were passed (there were 50 total per run). "Obstacles" indicates the number of obstacles on the track that were passed (there were 5 total per run). "Finishes" indicates the total number of runs that the team successfully completed (there were 4 runs total). "Total Gates" indicates the total number of gates that the team successfully passed. The teams are sorted from top to bottom according to runs completed and then by total gates passed. Teams indicated as a "desert race participant" are those teams invited by DARPA to participate in the Grand Challenge desert race. Source data
For the first and second run, only 4 obstacles were present whereas for the third and fourth runs 5 obstacles were present. The NQE results presented in the table above show each team's runs sorted left to right from their worst run to their best run in order to better illustrate relative ranking (i.e. not in order of the actual run sequence).
On October 6, the selected teams transported their robots to the starting location. On October 7 the teams had a day to fix any portions of the robots broken in the course of transportation prior to the actual race.
Race
A Google Talk video about the DARPA 2005 race is available at Google VideoThe route to be followed by the robots was supplied to the teams two hours before the start as a computer file with GPS coordinates, one every 72 m (237 feet) of the route, with more frequent waypoints in difficult patches. Some teams used topographic maps and aerial imagery to manually map out and program precise path and speed settings. Once the race had started, the robots were not allowed to contact humans in any way.
Each robot started at a different time and was "paused" for different amounts of time during the race; DARPA compensated for the staggered start times and subtracted the pause time from each robot's total to derive its final official time. The $2 million prize was awarded on Sunday, October 9, 2005.
The 2005 competitors were much more successful than those of 2004; only one failed to pass the 11.84 km (7.4 mi) mark set by the best-performing 2004 entry, Sandstorm
Sandstorm (vehicle)
Sandstorm is an autonomous vehicle. Created by Carnegie Mellon University's Red Team, it is a heavily modified 1986 M998 HMMWV. It competed in the DARPA Grand Challenge in 2004 and 2005.Sandstorm qualified in first position in the 2004 DARPA Grand Challenge...
. By the end, 18 robots had been disabled and five robots finished the course. On the first day, Stanley
Stanley (vehicle)
Stanley is an autonomous vehicle created by Stanford University's Stanford Racing Team in cooperation with the Volkswagen Electronics Research Laboratory...
from Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, and H1ghlander
H1ghlander
H1ghlander is an autonomous vehicle. Created by Carnegie Mellon University's Red Team, it is a heavily modified 1999 HUMMER H1. It competed in the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge....
and Sandstorm
Sandstorm (vehicle)
Sandstorm is an autonomous vehicle. Created by Carnegie Mellon University's Red Team, it is a heavily modified 1986 M998 HMMWV. It competed in the DARPA Grand Challenge in 2004 and 2005.Sandstorm qualified in first position in the 2004 DARPA Grand Challenge...
from Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
, finished within minutes of each other, with Stanley crossing the finish line first. Kat-5
Kat-5 (vehicle)
Kat-5 is an autonomous vehicle created by , an organization comprising employees from and students from Tulane University's , for the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge.-The vehicle:...
from Gray Team started much later, but finished in a comparable time. The race paused overnight with one competitor, TerraMax, left on the course at mile 83; TerraMax had the stage to itself on Sunday as it belatedly rumbled home.
The winner of the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge was Stanley, with a course time of 6 hours 53 minutes and 8 seconds (6:53:08) with average speed of 30.7 km/h (19.1 mph). CMU's Sandstorm followed with 7:04:50 at 29.9 km/h (18.6 mph) and H1ghlander at 7:14:00 at 29.3 km/h (18.2 mph). Gray Team's Kat-5 came through at 7:30:16 with average speed of 28.2 km/h (17.5 mph). Oshkosh Truck's Terramax finished at 12:51 and would not have been eligible for the prize because it exceeded the ten-hour limit.
The Official Website (requires Flash player plugin) contained a map and positions of the competitors, while TG Daily posted a running summary of the day's events.
Race participants
# | Vehicle | Team Name | Team Home | Time Taken (h:m) |
Result |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Stanley Stanley (vehicle) Stanley is an autonomous vehicle created by Stanford University's Stanford Racing Team in cooperation with the Volkswagen Electronics Research Laboratory... |
Stanford Racing Team | Stanford University Stanford University The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San... , Palo Alto Palo Alto, California Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is... , California California California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area... |
6:54 | First place |
2. | Sandstorm Sandstorm (vehicle) Sandstorm is an autonomous vehicle. Created by Carnegie Mellon University's Red Team, it is a heavily modified 1986 M998 HMMWV. It competed in the DARPA Grand Challenge in 2004 and 2005.Sandstorm qualified in first position in the 2004 DARPA Grand Challenge... |
Red Team | Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.... , Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States... , Pennsylvania Pennsylvania The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to... |
7:05 | Second place |
3. | H1ghlander H1ghlander H1ghlander is an autonomous vehicle. Created by Carnegie Mellon University's Red Team, it is a heavily modified 1999 HUMMER H1. It competed in the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge.... |
Red Team Too | 7:14 | Third place | |
4. | Kat-5 Kat-5 (vehicle) Kat-5 is an autonomous vehicle created by , an organization comprising employees from and students from Tulane University's , for the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge.-The vehicle:... |
Team Gray | The Gray Insurance Company, Metairie Metairie, Louisiana Metairie is a census-designated place in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States and is a major part of the New Orleans Metropolitan Area. Metairie is the largest community in Jefferson Parish. It is an unincorporated area that would be larger than most of the state's cities if it were... , Louisiana Louisiana Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties... |
7:30 | Fourth place |
5. | TerraMax TerraMax (vehicle) TerraMax is an autonomous tactical cargo hauler fielded by Oshkosh Truck Corporation, University of Parma's Artificial Vision and Intelligent Systems Laboratory and Rockwell Collins, also known under the name of Big Truck Robotics, that participated in both the 2004 and 2005 DARPA Grand... |
Team TerraMax | Oshkosh Truck Corporation Oshkosh Truck Oshkosh Corporation , formerly Oshkosh Truck, designs and builds specialty trucks and truck bodies and access equipment. Based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the company employs 12,300 people around the world... , Oshkosh Oshkosh, Wisconsin As of the census of 2000, there were 62,916 people, 24,082 households, and 13,654 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,662.2 people per square mile . There were 25,420 housing units at an average density of 1,075.6 per square mile... , Wisconsin Wisconsin Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is... |
12:51 | Over 10 hour limit, fifth place |
6. | DEXTER | Team Ensco | Ensco ENSCO, Inc. ENSCO, Inc. is a provider of engineering services, products, and advanced technologies for national security, transportation safety and asset management, information sciences, data management including information management systems for weather monitoring, aerospace and avionics, and R and D for... , Springfield Springfield, Virginia Springfield is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States and a suburb of Washington, D.C. The Springfield CDP is recognized by the U.S. Census Bureau with a population of 30,484 as of the 2010 census. Homes and businesses in bordering CDPs including North Springfield,... , Virginia Virginia The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there... |
DNF | Out of race at 81 miles; tire blowout after going off-course due to bent frame |
7. | Spirit | Axion Racing | Westlake Village Westlake Village, California Westlake Village is a planned community that straddles the Los Angeles and Ventura county line. The eastern portion is the incorporated city Westlake Village, located on the western edge of Los Angeles County, California. The city, located in the region known as the Conejo Valley, encompasses half... , California California California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area... |
DNF | Out of race at 66 miles; got stuck in sand, possibly after mechanical failure in suspension |
8. | Cliff | Virginia Tech Grand Challenge Team | Virginia Tech Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, popularly known as Virginia Tech , is a public land-grant university with the main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia with other research and educational centers throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and internationally.Founded in... , Blacksburg Blacksburg, Virginia Blacksburg is an incorporated town located in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States, with a population of 42,620 at the 2010 census. Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Radford are the three principal jurisdictions of the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford Metropolitan Statistical Area which... , Virginia Virginia The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there... |
DNF | Out of race at 44 miles due to vehicle motor mechanical problems. |
9. | Rocky | Virginia Tech Team Rocky | DNF | Out of race at 39 miles; a steep hill caused the oil in its generator to slosh around. The generator's low-oil sensor went off, cutting power to computers. | |
10. | ION | Desert Buckeyes | Ohio State University Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States... , Columbus Columbus, Ohio Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city... , Ohio Ohio Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus... |
DNF | Out of race at 29 miles |
11. | DAD | Team DAD | Digital Auto Drive/Velodyne Acoustics, Morgan Hill Morgan Hill, California Morgan Hill is a city located in the southern part of Santa Clara County, California, United States. Founded on November 10, 1906, the city was named after Hiram Morgan Hill, a San Franciscan who built a country retreat home there in 1884... , California California California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area... |
DNF | Out of race at 26 miles; LIDAR LIDAR LIDAR is an optical remote sensing technology that can measure the distance to, or other properties of a target by illuminating the target with light, often using pulses from a laser... scanner failed, loose wire due to vibration. |
12. | Desert Rat | Insight Racing | North Carolina State University North Carolina State University North Carolina State University at Raleigh is a public, coeducational, extensive research university located in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Commonly known as NC State, the university is part of the University of North Carolina system and is a land, sea, and space grant institution... , Raleigh Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh... , North Carolina North Carolina North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte... |
DNF | Out of race at 26 miles |
13. | Xboxx | Mojavaton | Grand Junction Grand Junction, Colorado The City of Grand Junction is the largest city in western Colorado. It is a city with a council–manager government form that is the county seat and the most populous city of Mesa County, Colorado, United States. Grand Junction is situated west-southwest of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. As... , Colorado Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains... |
DNF | Out of race at 23.5 miles |
14. | Golem 2 | The Golem Group/UCLA | Los Angeles Los Angeles, California Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California... , California California California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area... |
DNF | Out of race at 22 miles; software bug crashed main computer causing 60 mph rampage |
15. | CajunBot CajunBot CajunBot refers to the autonomous ground vehicles developed by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette for the DARPA Grand Challenges. CajunBot was featured on CNN and on the Discovery Channel science series .... |
Team Cajunbot | University of Louisiana University of Louisiana at Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, or UL Lafayette, is a coeducational, public research university located in Lafayette, Louisiana, in the heart of Acadiana... , Lafayette Lafayette, Louisiana Lafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. The population was 120,623 at the 2010 census... , Louisiana Louisiana Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties... |
DNF | Out of race at 17 miles; The motor on the brake actuator burned out when vehicle was paused for about fifty minutes. |
16. | RASCAL | SciAutonics/Auburn Engineering | Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, California Thousand Oaks is a city in southeastern Ventura County, California, in the United States. It was named after the many oak trees that grace the area, and the city seal is adorned with an oak.... , California California California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area... |
DNF | Out of race at 16 miles; software problems |
17. | Desert Tortoise | Intelligent Vehicle Safety Technologies | Littleton Littleton, Colorado Littleton is a Home Rule Municipality contained in Arapahoe, Douglas, and Jefferson counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. Littleton is a suburb of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area. Littleton is the county seat of Arapahoe County and the 20th most populous city in the state of... , Colorado Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains... |
DNF | Out of race at 14 miles, instability in steering controller caused robot to drive offroad for a power pole. |
18. | NaviGATOR | Team CIMAR | University of Florida University of Florida The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906... , Gainesville Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth... , Florida Florida Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it... |
DNF | Out of race at 14 miles; faulty reporting of GPS accuracy caused robot to drive into a bush, where a bug in "blocked path" logic left vehicle unable to recover. |
19. | Prospect Eleven | Princeton University | Princeton University Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution.... , Princeton Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756... , New Jersey New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware... |
DNF | Out of race at 10 miles. A code bug slowed down steering and throttle control, sending the robot looping in circles and narrowly missing a clump of reporters. |
20. | Spider | Team Cornell | Cornell University Cornell University Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions... , Ithaca Ithaca, New York The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area... , New York New York New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east... |
DNF | Out of race at 9 miles; when pause applied, rolled up against a guard rail; when unpaused, could not back away from rail since it had no functional backing software |
21. | Alice | Team Caltech | California Institute of Technology California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering... , Pasadena Pasadena, California Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet... , California California California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area... |
DNF | Out of race at 8 miles; after GPS reacquisition, veered over barrier and towards media |
22. | JackBot | MonsterMoto | Cedar Park Cedar Park, Texas Cedar Park is a city in Travis and Williamson counties in the U.S. state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the population is 48,937. The city is a major suburb of Austin, the center of which is approximately to the southeast, although Austin directly borders Cedar Park at the latter's... , Texas Texas Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in... |
DNF | Out of race at 7 miles |
23. | The Meteor | Mitre Meteorites | MITRE MITRE The Mitre Corporation is a not-for-profit organization based in Bedford, Massachusetts and McLean, Virginia... , McLean McLean, Virginia McLean is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. The community had a total population of 48,115 as of the 2010 census.... , Virginia Virginia The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there... |
DNF | Out of race at 1 mile; dust interfered with sensors causing false positive obstacle detection |
DNF = Did Not Finish
Team sites
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Official sites
TV & video coverage
- NOVA: The Great Robot Race
- Pre-event videos of the competitors
- WMV Video showing the world through Stanley's laser-beam eyes.
- Google Video: Lecture by Sebastian Thrun on winning the 2005 GC
Press coverage
- CNN.com: Robots fail to complete Grand Challenge
- Journal of Field Robotics, Special Issue on DARPA Grand Challenge, Part 1
- Journal of Field Robotics, Special Issue on DARPA Grand Challenge, Part 2
- News from the qualifying events and team blogs
- Wired Magazine article on the DARPA Grand Challenge and Stanley.
- Popular Mechanics article on the DARPA Grand Challenge.
- Popular Science article on the DARPA Grand Challenge.
- Scientific American article on the DARPA Grand Challenge.
- NOVA: The Great Robot Race