THE FIRST ROBOTIC FENDER BENDER

I must admit, there is a certain amount of control I’d be happy to turn over to the car, if I really trusted it. But let it drive itself? I’m still a long away from that.

And to this I feel I can speak with authority, for I was the human closest to the first-ever crash of two fully robotic vehicles, one that took place just feet from where I stood observing the race.

The interesting thing was the incredible “ humanness” of the crash. It was as if both robots were imbued with stereotypically human behind-the-wheel personalities. MIT’s Talos, described as the world’s most expensive Land Rover, did indeed behave like an impatient, self-entitled luxury car, while Cornell’s Skynet, a modified Chevy Tahoe, acted timidly and with maddening uncertainty, like an out-of-town tourist in an unfamiliar rental car.

Upon seeing the accident occur as I did, if you didn’t know the cars had no drivers, you would think it was simply a typical case of poor driving, not a failure of computer technology. One car was too aggressive, becoming impatient when the other car couldn’t decide what to do at an intersection. Talos decided to pass the hesitating Skynet and at that moment, the Tahoe hit the gas to move forward. Crrrunch! —William Gurstelle

For just $365,000 Team Gray Racing will sell you an autonomous vehicle, complete with a GPS system accurate to 10 centimeters.

New York Yankees: it’s a huge monetary investment whose sponsors expect a big payoff. The Tartan Racing team, an amalgamation of academics, engineers, and students from Carnegie Mellon University, General Motors, and Continental AG among others, built Boss, outfitting it with a complex array of radar, laser sensors, and drive-by-wire control systems.

Technology like this doesn’t come cheap, and a multimillion-dollar project like Boss requires the combined financial resources of several global conglomerates. Say what you will about design elegance and resourcefulness; in the end, money talks. That’s why the Yankees win so often.

First place and the $2 million grand prize went

BIG MONEY, BIG PAYOFF: Stanley (#3), Stanford University’s VW Passat, came in second, while Carnegie Mellon’s Boss (#19) drove off with first place, finishing the course in a stunning 4 hours, 10 minutes.

to Tartan Racing’s Boss, for completing all three missions 20 minutes ahead of the competition. Stanford University’s Junior came home with a check for $1 million, and Virginia Tech’s plucky Odin got half a million.

All of these teams were deep-pocketed and loaded with the best technical minds available anywhere. But big-thinking amateur makers shall not be dissuaded. As they say in New Orleans and Kokomo, wait until next time.

William Gurstelle is a contributing editor for MAKE and author of the popular book Backyard Ballistics.

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