Four Utah Teams in the Running for DARPA Urban Challenge

None by KCPW

Site Visits in June

(KCPW News) The U.S. military has Utah on its radar as it searches for unmanned ground vehicles it can deploy in war zones. Marshall Wright of the Governor's Office of Economic Development says four Utah groups will be getting site visits from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency - or DARPA - as it qualifies teams for its Urban Challenge:

"These vehicles will be completely autonomous, they will not be remote controlled. And that is the essence of what these site visits are going to be about, is to see how well our teams have come up with developing the software and control of these vehicles."

The exact location of the November event is a secret at this point. It will require unmanned cars or trucks to execute a mock military supply mission, merging into moving traffic, navigating traffic circles, negotiating busy intersections, and avoiding obstacles. Wright says the Utah teams have been able to test their vehicles on local law enforcement driving courses, but finding money has been more difficult for some than others:

"DARPA has underwritten at least 12 teams with a million dollars for support. One of our teams, Autonomous Solutions up in Logan, has a million-dollar contract. Which means then, if we use that as a scale, our other teams can use a million dollars [each]."

DARPA names Urban Challenge semi-finalists in August. The prize is $2 million dollars, which will be shared by the top three finishers that complete the course within the six-hour time limit.

Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom. Copyright 2008 KCPW