The DARPA Urban Challenge robot car race got underway here in Victorville, California just a couple of minutes late. The robot cars, 11 in all, launched from their starting chutes one at a time.
Virginia Tech's Victor Tango Ford Escape hybrid was the first to head out of the gate and through the narrow channel leading to the first traffic circle. Before the last of the other bots were underway, the announcer told the spectators watching from the bleachers that Victor Tango's vehicle had completed the first of its missions.
The robots launched smoothly, with Stanford, the Ben Franklin Racing Team, MIT, Team UCF, Cornell, and Team Oshkosh following Victor Tango in that order, until IVS's Ford F-250 rolled out of its chute, and then tried to loop back into an empty starting chute. Officials paused the truck, and team members went out to back the vehicle into its own starting chute for a retry.
Team AnnieWAY, followed by Tartan Racing--whose Chevy Tahoe, called Boss, shown here gunning its engine for an aggressive exit--and CarOLO launched without incident. By then IVS had gotten with the program and was able to follow up the rear without difficulty at 8:35 a.m.
So far so good as the bots make their way through the turns, intersections, straightways, and parking areas of the race course.
