Unmanned vehicles that once skirted stationary rocks and navigated desert hills are graduating to moving traffic and busy intersections.
The Grand Challenge, held as a race through the desert for the past two years, is moving to the city.
Two local teams of engineers, programmers and other technophiles that made it to the finals in the 2004 and 2005 Grand Challenge hope to compete again come 2007.
Bill Kehaly with the Axion Racing team out of Westlake Village said an urban race will add new challenges.
"When you came up to an obstacle in the old race ¿ it didn't move," he said.
The computer systems have to recognize moving objects, such as another car crossing the vehicle's path, and respond appropriately.
"It's going to make the last race look easy," Kehaly said.
Kishor Bapat with the SciAutonics team in Thousand Oaks said the team has continued to work on its autonomous vehicle, though the work has been low-key as the team waited to hear what the plans were for the next race. He said the team would talk about the race at its meeting Thursday.
Neither of the local teams finished the 132-mile race last year.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, started the Grand Challenge to advance autonomous vehicle technology that uses sensors and computer systems to drive a route, avoiding obstacles along the way. The long-term hope is to have one-third of the military's vehicles unmanned by 2015.
After a Stanford University team completed the course and won the $2 million prize in 2005, it was left up in the air whether DARPA would conduct another Grand Challenge. This week, the agency announced the Urban Challenge, putting autonomous vehicles on simulated city roads for a six-hour, 60-mile course.
The November 2007 race will have a $2 million first prize, $500,000 second prize and $250,000 third prize.
"Grand Challenge 2005 proved that autonomous ground vehicles can travel significant distances and reach their destination," DARPA Director Tony Tether said in a statement. "We believe the robot community is ready to tackle vehicle operation inside city limits."
Vehicles will have to obey traffic laws, merge into moving traffic, navigate traffic circles and negotiate busy intersections while avoiding obstacles.
The race will take place in the western United States. DARPA will announce the specifics before the teams meet for the semifinals, where they will compete for a spot in the race.
Past races have had motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles, including SciAutonics' entry, a modified ATV. But only full-size vehicles are allowed in the Urban Challenge.
"The focus of Urban Challenge is operation in traffic in an urban setting, so we want the vehicles to be of a size and type appropriate for that setting," DARPA spokeswoman Jan Walker wrote in an e-mail.
Bapat said that might affect SciAutonics' participation. "That's one of the things we'll have to think about," he said.
In past years, teams raised and invested their own money in hopes of winning the prize. This time, they have a chance to get money upfront from DARPA.
Teams can submit a detailed proposal for up to $1 million in technology development funds in exchange for giving the government limited license rights. Proposals are due by June 23.
Teams not selected or who do not want to submit a proposal can submit applications by Oct. 5 and participate in qualification events. Semifinalist teams in the National Qualification Event will receive $50,000. Finalists will receive $100,000.
The approach gives participants more flexibility and accelerates the development process, Walker said.
Kehaly said Axion is going to go for the $1 million funding.
There will be a conference for Urban Challenge participants May 20 in Reston, Va.
On the Net:
http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge
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