"DARPA Sees Inspiration as Trophy of Robot Race"
CNet (10/18/07); Olsen, Stefanie

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency director Tony Tether says in an interview that the
goal of his agency's driverless challenges--the third of which will be held on Nov. 3--is to
inspire a new generation of technologists.  The Urban Challenge, unlike the two races that
preceded it, will pit the robotic vehicles against each other as well as the course itself,
which will take place in a mock residential area.  The course will be more random in nature, in
that obstacles will not be stationary and the vehicles must be programmed to obey traffic rules
and devise alternate routes when confronted with unexpected barriers or detours.  Tether says
the races' inspirational power was demonstrated by the failure of entrants to finish the first
race, which forced technologists to consider smarter ways of gauging the road and obstacles
more accurately for the second event.  Tether believes that another technological
milestone--driverless vehicles' ability to recognize moving as well as fixed obstacles--has
been achieved in the interim between the second race and the Urban Challenge.  According to
Tether, the races not only serve to move forward the U.S. military's objective to make
one-third of ground vehicles autonomous by 2015, but to energize young scientists and
engineers, whose numbers in the United States have been dwindling.
http://www.news.com/DARPA-sees-inspiration-as-trophy-of-robot-race/2008-1014_3-6214091.html