Autonomous robotic vehicles competed Saturday in the DARPA Grand Challenge, with a modified 2005 Escape Hybrid finishing 4th. No vehicle completed the desert course last year, so the $1 million prize was carried over to this year's competition which was won by a team from Stanford.

The Escape was a sentimental favorite, as the Gray Team, sponsored by Gray Insurance, hails from storm-stricken Metairie, La. It completed the 132-mile course in 10 hours 17 minutes, solely guided by on-board computers, GPS gear & sensors with no human intervention. Info on the race and the teams can be found at the Grand Challenge website, or your favorite techie website (slashdot, cnet, pop science, etc.)

Fred

 

There's a picture of the vehicle, the KAT-5, at the DARPA website although the team is obscuring most of the Escape.

AP also moved a picture of the interior available on Yahoo news, showing some of the "guts," apparently in the back seat area.

Fred

 

The info on the DARPA site has them finished at 7:30 or so, which means they finished within the allowed time. Certainly they did it on less fuel than any of the other finishers!

 

I agree Steve. I wish the various media types would have, or will notice, that this was the only stock Ford Hybrid in the group, or hybrid of any color, and MPG should matter to the military when they extent this exercise to war-time real life where logistics mean replacement fuel is difficult.