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Photos: Robots race around 'Darpa city'
But where's the driver?

By Stefanie Olsen

Published: Wednesday 14 November 2007

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa, raised the green flag on 11 driverless cars to manoeuver a 60-mile course at the former George Air Force Base in Oro Grande, California - or what race officials dubbed Darpa city. It was part of Darpa's $3.5m robot race, the Urban Grand Challenge.

Stanford's robot, Junior, was the first to cross the finish line in last Saturday's Urban Grand Challenge, a six-hour test of autonomous vehicles with three separate missions. But Junior ultimately lost to Carnegie Mellon University's (CMU) driverless car, Boss, which was the overall winner.

Carnegie Mellon's team, Tartan Racing, won the $2m first prize. Stanford took second place and snagged $1m.

Photo credit: Stefanie Olsen/CNET News.com