The Urban Competition is sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which is the central research organization of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

According to the DARPA Grand Challenge website: “The Urban Challenge is an autonomous vehicle research and development program with the goal of developing technology that will keep warfighters off the battlefield and out of harm’s way. The Urban Challenge features autonomous ground vehicles maneuvering in a mock city environment, executing simulated military supply missions while merging into moving traffic, navigating traffic circles, negotiating busy intersections, and avoiding obstacles.”

The first competition, then called the Grand Challenge, was held on March 13, 2004 on a 142-mile course from Barstow, California to Primm, Nevada. Out of fifteen vehicles, none finished the course.

In the second competition, held on October 8, 2005, the Stanford Racing Team (Stanford University, California) completed a 132-mile course in less than seven hours. Beating out three other competitors who also finished the course, the Stanford team with their robotic “Stanley” Volkswagen Touareg vehicle won two million dollars.

The home website for the DARPA Urban Challenge is: http://www.darpa.mil/GrandChallenge/index.asp.

Excellent information about the Grand/Urban Challenge and the history of autonomous vehicles appears within the “DARPA Grand Challenge” article at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darpa_grand_challenge.

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