The Intel supported Stanford Racing Team were the first to cross the line in this year's DARPA Grand Challenge, beating the also Intel supported Red Team by a mere 4 minutes after a race lasting just under 10 hours.
At the time of writing, the Grand Challenge website lists one team as still running and not yet finished, but the Stanford team completed the course in the quickest time.
Vehicles participating in the DARPA Grand Challenge are unoccupied, relying on remote control and on-board systems to help them navigate the deserts and mountains of Nevada. The technology developed for use in the competing vehicles will likely find its way into unmanned military vehicles and then into more commercial applications.
The two teams to complete the course the fastest had Intel's Pentium M processor on board. The Stanford team's vehicle was a modified Volkswagen Touareq V6, with 6 blade systems running off its alternator and a drive-by-wire system.
Last year, nobody claimed the $1million prize money, and this year the prize is a whopping $2million. Expect celebrations from the teams of all the vehicles that completed the course, and their sponsors, during this coming week.
Update
The Stamford Team's vehicle has now officially been declared the winner, beating the Red Team by 9 minutes in the end. All three Intel sponsored vehicles successfully completed the course. Congratulations to all the vehicles that completed the course, and the teams behind the other vehicles for their efforts.
