DARPA Grand Challenge 2004

The DARPA Grand Challenge 2004 was a contest for the DARPA autonomous vehicles. He was carried out on 13 March 2004 in the Mohave Desert. The prize money DARPA put a million dollars for the first vehicle that can complete the 241 - km - long course, students firmly. The DARPA Grand Challenge was repeated in 2005.

The distance from Barstow, California, running in parallel to Interstate 15 via closed to other traffic roads and sand tracks to Primm immediately behind the Nevada border. The participants had in the race an unmanned, fully autonomous vehicle. It also spatial boundaries were defined and when a vehicle drove outside this, it was disqualified. Each vehicle was accompanied for safety aspects of a manned vehicle. This should collisions and other dangerous situations are avoided.

To participate in the Grand Challenge, more than 100 teams signed up with their vehicles. Each robotic vehicle got 10 hours driving time awarded prescribed breaks were not included. Nevertheless succeeded in none of the 15 starting cars that qualified for the main event, to achieve the goal.

The favorite " Sandstorm " by the Red Team, the elite Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, managed 7.4 miles (about 12 km ) - about 5 % of the way - to get far. The vehicle, however, came off the track, rammed a barrier and caught fire. Thus, none of the 15 teams succeeded the prize money in the amount of $ 1 million to win.