thumb|right|300px|Darpa Grand Challenge
The '''DARPA Grand Challenge''' is a prize competition for Department of Defense. Congress has authorized DARPA to award cash prizes to further DARPA’s mission to sponsor revolutionary, high-payoff research that bridges the gap between fundamental discoveries and their use for national security. DARPA has technologies needed to create the first fully autonomous ground vehicles capable of completing a substantial off-road course within a limited time. The third event, The DARPA Urban Challenge, which took place on November 3, 2007 and was broadcast via webcast,<ref name="autogenerated2">[http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/ Welcome<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> further advanced vehicle requirements to include autonomous operation in a mock urban environment.

==History and Background==

Fully autonomous vehicles have been an international pursuit for many years,  from endeavors in Japan (starting in 1977), Germany (Ernst Dickmanns and VaMP), Italy (the ARGO Project), the European Union (EUREKA Prometheus Project), the United States of America, and other countries. 

The Grand Challenge was the first long distance competition for driverless cars in the world; other research efforts in the field of $2 million for the next event, which was claimed on $2 million, $1 million, and $500,000, respectively.

The competition was open to teams and organizations from around the world, as long as there were at least one U.S. citizen on the roster. Teams have participated from high schools, universities, businesses and other organizations. More than 100 teams registered in the first year, bringing a wide variety of technological skills to the race. In the second year, 195 teams from 36 US states and 4 foreign countries entered the race.

==2004 Grand Challenge==

The  first competition of the DARPA Grand Challenge was held in 2004 the Primm.
None of the robot vehicles finished the route. Carnegie Mellon University's Red Team traveled the farthest distance, completing 11.78 km (7.36 miles) of the course.

==2005 Grand Challenge==

thumb|right|300px|[[Stanley (vehicle)|Stanley, the winner of the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge]]
The second competition of the DARPA Grand Challenge began at 6:40am on October 8, 2005.   All but one of the 23 finalists in the 2005 race surpassed the 11.78 km (7.36 mile) distance completed by the best vehicle in the 2004 race.  Five  vehicles successfully completed the race:
 
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Vehicle
!Team Name
!Team Home
!Time Taken<br />(h:m)
!Result
|-
| Stanley
| [http://cs.stanford.edu/group/roadrunner//old/index.html Stanford Racing Team]
| Palo Alto, California
| 6:54
| First place
|-
| Sandstorm
| [http://www.redteamracing.org/ Red Team]
|rowspan="2"| Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| 7:05
| Second place
|-
| H1ghlander
| [http://www.redteamracing.org/ Red Team Too]
| 7:14
| Third place
|-
| Kat-5
| [http://www.graymatterinc.com/teamgray Team Gray] 
| The Gray Insurance Company, Metairie, Louisiana
| 7:30
| Fourth place
|-
| TerraMax
| [http://www.terramax.com/ Team TerraMax]
| Oshkosh Truck Corporation, Oshkosh, Wisconsin
| 12:51
| Over 10 hour limit, fifth place
|}
 

Vehicles in the 2005 race passed through three narrow tunnels and negotiated more than 100 sharp left and right turns.  The race concluded through Beer Bottle Pass, a winding mountain pass with sheer drop-offs on both sides.  Although the 2004 course required more elevation gain and some very sharp switchbacks (Daggett Ridge) were required near the beginning of the route, the course had far fewer curves and generally wider roads than the 2004 course.  

thumb|right|200px|A vehicle that was developed for the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge
The natural rivalry between the teams from Oshkosh Truck, finished on the second day.  The huge truck spent the night idling on the course, and was particularly nimble in carefully picking its way down the narrow roads of Beer Bottle Pass.

==2007 Urban Challenge==

The third competition of the DARPA Grand Challenge<ref>"The contest, called the Grand Challenge and sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa, featured both robot collisions and robot traffic jams." </ref>, known as the "Urban Challenge", took place on km (60-mile) urban area course, to be completed in less than 6 hours.  Rules  included obeying all traffic regulations while negotiating with other traffic and obstacles and merging into traffic. 

The $2 million winner was Tartan Racing, a collaborative effort by General Motors Corporation, with their vehicle "Boss", a Chevy Tahoe.  The second place finisher earning the $1 million prize was the Stanford Racing Team with their entry "Junior", a 2006 Volkswagen Passat.  Coming in third place was team Victor Tango from Virginia Tech winning the $500,000 prize with their 2005 Ford Escape hybrid, "Odin".<ref>[http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/index.asp Welcome<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> MIT placed 4th, with Cornell University and University of Pennsylvania/Lehigh University also completing the course. 

The six teams that successfully finished the entire course:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Team Name
!ID#
!Vehicle
!Type
!Location
!Time Taken<br />(h:m:s)
!Result
|-
| [http://www.tartanracing.org/ Tartan Racing]
| 19
| Boss
| 2007 Chevy Tahoe
| Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| 4:10:20
| 1st Place; averaged approximately 14 mph (22.53 km/h) throughout the course <ref name="autogenerated1">[http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/11/darpa-names-win.html Carnegie Takes First in DARPA's Urban Challenge | Danger Room from Wired.com<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[http://www.cmu.edu/homepage/practical/2007/fall/victory.shtml First-Place Finish - Carnegie Mellon University<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
|-
| [http://cs.stanford.edu/group/roadrunner/ Stanford Racing]
| 03
| Junior
| 2006 Volkswagen Passat Wagon
| Palo Alto, California
| 4:29:28
| 2nd Place; averaged about 13.7 mph (22.05 km/h) throughout the course<ref>[http://cs.stanford.edu/group/roadrunner/racelog.html Stanford Racing Team<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
|-
| [http://www.me.vt.edu/urbanchallenge/ VictorTango]
| 32<ref>The Virginia Tech robot carried number 32 to commemorate the thirty-two people killed in the campus massacre on April 16 2007 [http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/11/virginia-tech-r.html].</ref>
| Odin
| 2005 Ford Hybrid Escape
| Blacksburg, Virginia
| 4:36:38
| 3rd Place; averaged slightly less than 13 mph (20.92 km/h) throughout the course<ref name="autogenerated1" />
|-
| [http://grandchallenge.mit.edu/ MIT]
| 79
| Talos
| Land Rover LR3
| Cambridge, Massachusetts
| Approx. 6 hours
| 4th Place.<ref>[http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/mediafaq.asp Contact<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
|-
| [http://www.benfranklinracingteam.org/ The Ben Franklin Racing Team]
| 74
| Little Ben
| 2006 Toyota Prius
| Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| No official time.
| One of 6 teams to finish course
|-
| [http://www.cornellracing.com/ Cornell]
| 26
| Skynet
| 2007 Chevy Tahoe
| Ithaca, New York
| No official time.
| One of 6 teams to finish course
|}
While the 2004 and 2005 events were more physically challenging for the vehicles, the robots operated in isolation and only encountered other vehicles on the course when attempting to pass.  The Urban Challenge required designers to build vehicles able to obey all traffic laws while they detect and avoid other robots on the course.  This is a particular challenge for vehicle software, as vehicles must make "intelligent" decisions in real time based on the actions of other vehicles. Other than previous autonomous vehicle efforts that focused on structured situations such as highway driving with little interaction between the vehicles, this competition operated in a more cluttered urban environment and required the cars to perform sophisticated interactions with each other, such as maintaining precedence at a 4-way stop intersection.
<ref>http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/docs/urb_challenge_announce.pdf</ref>

==Technology==
For reference, see DARPA Urban Challenge, a C++ based platform for testing Path Planning Algorithms: An application of Game Theory and Neural Networks.<ref name="deutsche-borse-xetra"></ref>

Le '''DARPA Grand Challenge''' est une compétition organisée par la DARPA,  la ''Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency'' (agence américaine en charge des projets en recherche avancée pour la Défense) qui a pour but de faire parcourir à des véhicules terrestres sans pilote et de manière autonome, un circuit dans le désert des Mojaves. Deux éditions ont été organisées en 2004 et 2005 et une troisième en novembre 2007, renommée  '''DARPA Urban Challenge''', car se déroulant en milieu urbain <ref name ="Le Figaro">"Le Figaro", 5 novembre 2007 [http://www.lefigaro.fr/sciences/20071105.FIG000000140_une_course_de_cent_kilometres_onze_voitures_aucun_pilote.html Une course de cent kilomètres, onze voitures, aucun pilote]</ref>.

==Darpa Grand Challenge==

===Règles===
Pour remporter le prix, l'équipe doit concevoir un véhicule qui :
* se déplace de manière autonome et parcourt le circuit en moins de 10 heures
* utilise le GPS et d'autres signaux disponibles pour les civils
* fonctionne de manière entièrement autonome, sans recevoir aucune commande lors de son parcours
* ne doit en aucun cas toucher de manière intentionnelle un autre véhicule de la compétition

===Édition 2004===
L'édition 2004 mettait en jeu un prix de 1 million de dollars. Mais aucun véhicule n'a été en mesure de terminer le circuit long de 150 milles (241,4 kilomètres), suivant l'Interstate 15 (I-15).

Le favori avait pris feu au bout de 13 kilomètres, le buggy ''Sci Autonic'' s'était retrouvé coincé sur un talus et le camion de 16 tonnes ''TerraMax'' a été bloqué par un simple buisson.

===Édition 2005===
250px|thumb|right|Remise du prix à l'équipe de ''Stanley''
L'édition 2005 a vu le montant de son prix doubler. Et cette fois-ci, sur les 23 véhicules participant, 5 sont arrivés au bout, dont 4 dans les délais, fixés à moins de 10 heures. La course a commencé le 8 octobre à 6h40.
Le gagnant a été le véhicule de l'équipe d'ingénieurs de l'Université de Stanford en Californie, ''Stanley'', un Volkswagen Touareg amélioré. Ce dernier a parcouru les 132,2 milles (212,7 kilomètres) en 6 heures 53 minutes et 8  secondes (6:53:08), à la vitesse moyenne de 19,1 mph (30,7 km/h). Les suivants ont été :
* ''Sandstorm'' de l'Université de Carnegie Mellon, en 7:04:50 à la vitesse de 18,6 mph (29,9 km/h)
* ''H1ghlander'' également de l'Université de Carnegie Mellon, en 7:14:00 à la vitesse de 18,2 mph (29,3 km/h)
* ''Kat-5'' de la société d'assurance ''The Gray Insurance Company'', en 7:30:16 à la vitesse de 17,5 mph (28,2 km/h)
* ''Terramax'' de la société ''Oshkosh Truck Company'', en 12h51.
Ce dernier n'a pas été sur le podium car il a dépassé la limite des 10 heures.

==Darpa Urban Challenge==
A la fin de l'édition 2005, le directeur de la DARPA Tony Tether, a indiqué qu'il était peu probable qu'une édition 2006 soit organisée. Car le but du ''Grand Challenge'' était d'accélérer le développement de ces technologies, pour les voir utilisées dans des applications viables, notamment au sein de l'armée. Ce qui est chose faite.

Cependant, la DARPA annonce le  qu'une troisième édition aura lieu <ref> [http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/docs/urb_challenge_announce.pdf ''DARPA Announces Third Grand Challenge - Urban Challenge Moves to the City''] </ref>. Renommée ''DARPA Urban Challenge'', la compétition se déroule le  et comme son nom l'indique, en milieu urbain. Les véhicules doivent remplir des missions d'approvisionnement en parcourant 60 miles (un peu plus de 96 kilomètres) en moins de six heures, en s'intégrant en sécurité au trafic routier, respectant le code de la route alors qu'il n'y a pas de signalisation routière particulière et évitant les obstacles qui pourraient surgir devant eux. Les équipes des trois premiers véhicules qui arrivent dans les temps remportent respectivement ,  et  dollars <ref name="futura_051107"> {{Lien web
   |url=http://www.futura-sciences.com/fr/sinformer/actualites/news/t/robotique/d/en-video-le-darpa-urban-challenge-course-folle-de-voitures-robots_13464/
   |titre=En vidéo : le Darpa Urban Challenge, course folle de voitures robots
   |id=En vidéo : le Darpa Urban Challenge, course folle de voitures robots
   |auteur=Jean-Luc Goudet
   |date=
   |éditeur=Futura-Sciences
   |en ligne le=
   |consulté le=
 }}</ref>.