DARPA only allows 11 teams into the Urban Challenge
Trendwatch
By Humphrey Cheung
Thursday, November 01, 2007 14:22
Victorville (CA) – DARPA officials took a chainsaw to the remaining list of Urban Challenge contestants and are allowing only 11 teams into this Saturday’s race. Dr. Tony Tether, the head of DARPA, said the decision was based mainly on safety and whether the robots would impede other vehicles from reaching their destination. He added that Tartan Racing’s “Boss” bot performed the best during the qualifications.
The finalists for the Urban Challenge race on Saturday are
AnnieWay
Ben Franklin
CarOLO
Cornell
Intelligent Vehicle Systems
MIT
Stanford Racing
Tartan Racing
Team Oshkosh
Team UCF
Victor Tango
Dr. Tether joked that he wanted to eliminate Team Oshkosh, but the team’s giant military chassis bot cemented the final position by performing the merging vehicle’s course perfectly. “It was an A plus plus job,” said Tether.