DARPA Grand Challenge Update - We have a winner!

Well, last year's DARPA Grand Challenge might have been a comedy of errors, but not only has this year's robotic Cannonball Run produced a winner, it was actually neck and neck towards the end there, with three driverless vehicles closing in on the finish line at almost the same time. In the end, though, it was Stanford Racing Team's Stanley, a tricked-out Volkswagen Touareg R5, that was the fastest to cover all 131.6 miles of Mojave desert and earn its creators a sweet $2 million in prize money.

UPDATE: Our bad — At the time of this posting it didn't look like CMU's Red Team was going to beat Stanford's time, looks like they just did! We'll keep an eye out for official results.

[threEchelon @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

[Michael J. Stigler @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

This race was hardly Grand or a Challenge. Far too easy, I'm not sure why DARPA let this happen. (I'm not joking by the way, it should have been called The DARPA Road Following Competition.)

[Ron Gejman @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

There isn't a winner yet. It's a time trial. Best time wins!

[Paul Cornn @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Given the course speed limit of 45MPH it is not possible for any of the remaining teams to beat the time posted. So yes they did win.

[William Cox @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

As of 2:15 PST there are still 4 teams in the running: Red Team, Grey Team, Team Terra Max, and Insight Racing. It aint over yet!

[Fire Hazard @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Wow this changes everything. I see great and terrible things coming in the future. If or when the military starts use the technology they will most definitely strap some missiles on it. I don't trust a machine to determine who lives and dies. Terminator?

[Glen Murphy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Well, the web page says that Red Team finished the course in two minutes less than Stanford (I'm fairly that time does take into account the pausing they had to do for Stanford's team).

[Theodore Wheeland @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

When can I watch this on ESPN? Cause it's like NASCAR minus the ego-inflated dweeds.

No seriously, I where can I find a webcast of this or CNN special or collectible DARPA DVD?

I've read so much about this and witnessed so little. That sentiment sounds strangely familiar to High Definition (read so much, seen so little.)

...Now, I'm sad.

[Purincess @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I think there are some mistakes here -- the Red Team came in with less time.

[Glen Murphy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Looking at the site again, it doesn't look like they've stopped the timers (or they're still adding on minutes for other factors).

It's all totally mind blowingly awesome, regardless.

[JimDunn @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

The official website (www.grandchallenge.org) of the challenge shows a different course distance (132.2 and 132 miles) than what Peter Rojas reported (131.6 miles). Rounding could be the cause of the two different distances shown on the official website.

[Shig the Unmentionable @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Whichever team actually came in first, I still have to give props to Stanford's Stanley for not being a #$*@ing Hummer.

[Steve @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I'm at student at CMU and I was in the official room viewing the event. Sandstorm, h1ghlander, and Stanfords car had to be paused at one point or antoher. H1ghlander once for stanford to pass, stanfords paused a few times, and sandstorm had to be paused a few times and then a long time because the race coordinators only wanted 1 car at a time in the pass. The times up on the DARPA site are still running and only represent the staggered times set in the beggining. There won't be a winner until all the pause times are deducted.

[April Angell @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Well, its good to see that despite all the hi-tech guidance systems, the VW still needs it's wing mirrors.

[John @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

In any case, it does seem likely that Stanford won. Stanley had to pause many times, because they were stuck behind H1ghlander, whereas H1ghlander only had to pause once. Sandstorm might have had to pause a few times, but it seems unlikely that they had to pause long enough to make up for the large difference in times.

BTW, hello, Steve: I was in that room also.

[Mik Ishmael @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Maybe Stanley should have 'bump drafted' H1ghlander a few times.

[MKS @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Nice tagline Volkswagen - "Drivers Not Required"

[MKS @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Nice tagline Volkswagen - "Drivers Not Required"

[SoopahMan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Stanford wins - they have the best time, and the most pauses. I'll be pretty surprised to hear another team wins.

Pretty amazing if 5 teams cross that finish line though (2 are still out there)!

Stanford just made a BIG name for themselves - they're about to be said in the same breath as MIT and UCal Berkeley when it comes to Engineering.

[MKS @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

It's bad manners to follow up one's own comment but the latest official word is that no winner is declared. http://www.grandchallenge.org/

[Chris P @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Can't get on the site. Anywhere else with the latest news on this?

[Pete @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

As of this time the site gives info of three vehicles finished, two still out. No winner declared

[BD @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

As of Saturday evening, four teams had finished (Gray team was allowed to finish after night fell, since they don't rely on daylight), with one more paused for the night. The grandchallenge.org's number are of course screwed up, and an announcement of the winner once pause time has been deducted should be made no later than 12 noon PST, I would guess. However, the DARPA folks have got themselves in a bit of a pickle, since if the times are close, subjective judgments about when pauses were made and how to factor in slow-down/speed-up times may make the difference--and with $2 million on the line (plus much more in future military contracts), the result could be quite controversial. We'll see...

[Humphrey Cheung @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I blogged the event on-site (and will continue in the morning). DARPA officials stressed to us during the race to not count on the website as it went "bonkers" (their words). Don't consider the numbers to be accurate.

www.tgdaily.com

[Vai @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Anyone have a link that bypasses the stupid Flash? Those of us running systems Macromedia has decided to ignore would like to be able to read at least some of the site.

[Greg @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

You can't bypass the Flash. The site is IN flash.

[asurroca @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Yeah, something like that. They had to use euphamisms, but that was the gist of it!

Hey Humphrey Cheung, great up-to-the-minute blogging! I was following it and linked to it from a little article I wrote for VW site newbeetle.org.

[aryeh @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

i believe that it is now official that stanford won according to the challenge's web site

[P @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

Stanford Racing Team�s Stanley has finally won! 5 finished and Stanley ended up with a time of 6:53:58 - winning by over 10 minutes. http://www.grandchallenge.org/

[Paul Komarek @ Dec 19th 2005 12:20AM]

I expect all of the teams that completed the course will be continuing research in this area, funded by darpa, major motor companies, etc. Funding only one technology has too much risk.