Looks like we won’t be seeing any robot driver’s licenses issued anytime soon.
All 15 self-navigating vehicles in a 150-mile race across the Mojave Desert were knocked out within a few miles of the starting gate, victims of technical glitches, barbed-wire fences and rugged terrain.
None could claim the $1 million prize Saturday offered by a military agency seeking to develop autonomous vehicles that could be used in combat.
One of the early favorites, a military Humvee converted by Carnegie Mellon University students, managed to travel 7.4 miles before veering off course and snapping an axle during the race.
Officials foresee using computer-run, remote control-free robots to ferry supplies in war zones.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency spent $13 million on the Grand Challenge. It estimates competitors laid out a total of four to five times that amount developing their entries, which rely on global positioning satellites as well as a variety of sensors, lasers, radar and cameras to orient themselves and detect and avoid obstacles.
Most of the vehicles Saturday made it less than a mile before stalling, overturning or running off course. One six-wheeled robot built by a Louisiana team was disqualified after it became entangled in barbed wire. Others crashed seconds after starting.
Carnegie Mellon’s Humvee was the first to set out on the brush-and boulder-dotted course just after dawn. It took off at a fast clip. Within 15 minutes, the vehicle dubbed Sandstorm had covered about seven miles over mostly flat desert, but it stalled near the tiny town of Daggett.
The race was over in about four hours after the final competitors were disabled. Competitors suffered a variety of problems, including stuck brakes and malfunctioning satellite-navigation equipment.
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Compiled from RedEye news services and edited by Patrick Olsen (polsen@tribune.com) and Victoria Rodriguez (vrodriguez@tribune.com).
