Axion Racing was ranked 3rd of all autonomous vehicles teams at the 2005 DARPA NQE.  Spirit started fourth (3rd Team) at the last DARPA Grand Challenge and finished ahead of Caltech, UCLA, Princeton, Cornell, Virginia Tech, and Ford.

Only 3 of 11 teams funded by DARPA ($1M) drove farther in 2005 and the team bested both the iRobot and Raytheon entries for the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. Spirit also uses a Sony PlayStation 3 to drive backwards autonomously.

Spirit is the first unmanned vehicle to drive autonomously to the 14,110 foot

summit of Colorado's Pike's Peak.