Teams picked for rush hour robot race

Culver City (CA) - The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has picked the first eleven teams for next year's Urban Challenge race. In the race, robotic cars from each team will have to complete an urban, obstacle filled 60-mile course in less than six hours. In return for giving up some technology rights, each team will receive up to $1 million in funding before the race.

DARPA is a military research agency and the technology from the race will eventually help make autonomous supply trucks. It's no surprise that delivering supplies is a dangerous job, especially in war-torn areas like Iraq and Afghanistan. The Urban Challenge course will try to simulate the environment by running vehicles through a city-like environment where traffic laws must be obeyed.

The eleven teams picked so far are in Track A, while Track B teams will be picked in the coming months. Track A teams receive up to $1 million in DARPA funding for completing technical milestones leading up to the race. Track B don't receive any money, but get to tackle the same course.

Related article:
Stanford wins Grand Challenge - Live Race Blog

TOPICS

Humphrey Cheung was a senior editor at Tom's Hardware, covering a range of topics on computing and consumer electronics. You can find more of his work in many major publications, including CNN and FOX, to name a few.