Programs like this inspire young kids to consider college and careers in technology fields. That's a good thing, with a tremendous potential return on the relatively tiny investment. Plus, they create a pool of proto-expert engineers and technologists that can move directly into (mostly our) relevant manufacturing industries. In a competitive world, we need every technology advantage we can create for ourselves to remain at the forefront economically.

Nothing wrong with changing to a new challenge, but ending the program would be dumb.

I would have put big ole tires on a roomba vacuum. I have a feeling that once google maps, gps n the such are more evolved, you will be able to plug your iphone or google phone, (out this monday)into the dash of your car, and you will safely, (and boringly) arrive at your pre programmed destination. these things seem overly complicated, and ungainly. An S class with the radar cruise control and a gps system is not too far removed from what they are trying to accomplish at the DARPA challange.

DARPA won't stop doing challenges like this, it just won't be with autonomous vehicles next time. Everyone's been astonished with how well these challenges have worked to develop technology in innovative ways and with relatively little expense by the government. But crazy new technology is what DARPA does.

Blackwater, your new Suburbans are ready!

What do they do with the vehicles after the race is over?

Oh it's all fun and games now, just wait till one runs off your girlfriend :(

@GizFanAlpha: Probably the same thing that we usually do with design prototypes...put them in a warehouse for a while until nobody cares about them and the short-life construction technology has failed due to age, then dispose of them. Or, maybe disassemble all the high value technology for re-use, and dispose of the rest.

If we didn't do that, we'd never get to experience that bittersweet feeling of "how could we have been so stupid!" in twenty years when we're looking back at all the history we didn't put in museums where it could inspire future generations.

@GizFanAlpha: Actually, my guess as to Boss (the winning Tartan Racing vehicle, from Carnegie-Mellon) is that GM and Caterpillar have some kind of sharing contract where it goes back and forth between their respective autonomous-vehicle engineering centers...at each of which, I'm guessing, some of the C-M grad students are shortly going to be working.

Go Hokies!!

What Turcicus said!

It's nice to see VT in the headlines for something other than football.

Gobble Gobble

Not only is it inspiring, it's great way to build unbeatable experience for up and coming students.

When I went to the 2nd one (the first offroad one where anyone finished), I saw at least one student basically get offered a job right on the spot by the director of engineering for a major defense firm.

If only they had a Grand Challenge for biomedical engineering...
(note the user name)

Also:
Take that Lexus LS! Guess you're not so special after all, huh?

@GizFanAlpha: All of the cars congregate and plan how they are going to take over the earth, DUH.

@Mad_Science:

It's terrible to say, but I'm not gonna lie - I really would love to see how someone reacts when their LS starts going haywire and tries to parallel park itself at 50mph. E-brake!

@JWilly48519:

Agreed - and without programs like DARPA, instead of inspiring people to build something useful and on a large scale, it will only force people to produce such wasteful crap as LCD rimz. Shiiitz be hot f00!

There are plenty of interested and inspired people out there. But there are only a tiny number of monster companies like GM and Caterpillar that'll hand a bunch of these inspired folks $25 million and let them have at it. I'm kind of annoyed that DARPA has continued to present this as some kind of grass-roots little-guy effort. In the first iteration of the Grand Challenge you did have high schools modifying golf carts and other entries of that nature, but frankly they never had a chance. All of the teams that matter spent millions. The whole thing is still cool and interesting, but it isn't even vaguely something that you can tackle by simply being interested and inspired.

I have a friend that works for DARPA, but he spends more time writing press releases that the government is not trying to control people's minds with VLF and ULF radio frequencies than working on cool projects like this. Although some of his non-classified communications work is pretty neat.

Still, I cannot wait to see the memo and press release for the car that can take over the universe.

@mcguirev10: For a project of this magnitude and complexity, an investment of $1 million or so IS the grassroots little-guy effort. I don't know why a high school would even try to compete. It's clear they have neither the funding nor the technical expertise to actually create a real solution to the challenge.