DARPA Urban Challenge to have multiple cash prizes

The head of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Dr. Tony Tether, says the Urban Challenge will have multiple cash prizes. Tether told Wired magazine that prizes from $500,000 to $2,000,000 will be given to the top teams that successfully complete the 60-mile urban course with robotic vehicles.

The race will be very expensive to compete in because of the multitude of computers, sensors and not to mention a car that the teams will have to buy. DARPA is helping smaller teams with the costs by providing some seed money, for a piece of the technology action afterwards. One team turned down the offer because it was sponsored by a large aerospace firm that would presumably make much more money by itself if the vehicle won.

Humphrey Cheung was a senior editor at Tom's Hardware, covering a range of topics on computing and consumer electronics. You can find more of his work in many major publications, including CNN and FOX, to name a few.