Victorville (CA) – DARPA has just announced that Tartan Racing from Carnegie Mellon University has won the Urban Challenge race. Stanford Racing and Victor Tango finished second and third respectively. The top three teams get $2 million, $1 million and $500,000 in prize money each and will undoubtedly receive numerous job offers in the coming months.
DARPA Urban Challenge raceday ...
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Video - DARPA Urban Challenge Race starts
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Video - DARPA Urban Challenge Race course footage and finish
Even though Stanford crossed the finish line first, the final results were calculated by total autonomous running time minus any time penalties from infractions against the California Vehicle Code. Tartan Racing’s “Boss” bot had major troubles at the starting line because of electrical interference from a nearby Jumbotron television set. The bot started approximately 20 to 25 minutes after Stanford and VictorTango, but finished within a few minutes of Stanford.
Ben Franklin, Cornell and MIT also finished the race.