February 24, 2005

TEAM: Axion Racing.

History: Based in Westlake Village, this team competed in the finals in the 2004 Grand Challenge. Axion LLC has 35 members.

Vehicle: Spirit of Kosrae.

Description: Based on a Jeep Grand Cherokee, the vehicle uses artificial intelligence to make steering decisions based on the input from up to 64 different sensors. Though equipped with GPS, the team is working now on getting the car to run the course without relying on the GPS.

Web site: http://www.axionracing.com/.

Team: SciAutonics/Auburn Engineering.

History: Based in Thousand Oaks, SciAutonics LLC was a finalist in the 2004 Grand Challenge. The team includes volunteers from Rockwell Scientific and Amgen Inc. as well as other engineers and consultants and Auburn University.

Vehicle: RASCAL (Robust Autonomous Sensor-Controlled All-Terrain Land Vehicle).

Description: Based on an ATV off-road vehicle equipped with a continuously variable transmission and four-wheel-drive. Plans for this year include improved sensor-based obstacle avoidance and improved speed and reliability.

Web site: http://www.sciautonics.com/ (site is being updated)

Team: Easy Does It.

History: This is a first-go for this team, led by independent consulting engineer Ralph Benham of Ventura and John Ward, owner and operator of Diamond Tech in Rocklin, Calif.

Vehicle: DTI Rebel.

Description: The vehicle is based on a minimally modified four-wheel-drive Jeep that may be automated or manually operated. All control equipment will be shock-mounted with minimal moving parts.

No Web site.

About the race:

Last year's Grand Challenge stretched from Barstow to Primm, Nev. DARPA will announce the general area for this year's race in the summer and then will give teams the actual route two hours before the competition starts. The route will be no longer than 175 miles through the desert and may include paved roads, unpaved roads, trails and off-road areas. The winning team must complete the course in less than 10 hours.

For more information, visit http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge.