More from RoadTrip America

Robots on the Road: The DARPA Grand Challenge
March 14, 2004—

Robot without a driver:TerraMax, the 32,000-pound entry from Oshkosh Truck Company

I never need much of an excuse to take a road trip, but yesterday I had a GRAND one! At 2:00 am we left Las Vegas and headed south on Interstate 15. It was a beautiful night to be on the road, and our destination was the Slash X café in Barstow, California. Slash X was ground zero for the DARPA Grand Challenge Autonomous Ground Vehicle Race from Barstow to Primm, Nevada.

DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is the U.S. Department of Defense's primary R&D organization, and it's tasked with discovering and nurturing new technologies that can be used by the U.S. military. This race was one of many efforts to develop the systems and technology to meet the Congressional mandate that by 2015 30% of all U.S. military vehicles be capable of autonomous navigation. [Read more]