Insight Racing Team To Enter DARPA Urban Challenge

October 18, 2006
Insight Racing announced that it will be entering the DARPA Urban Challenge (www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge) which was announced on May 1, 2006.

Insight Racing is a North Carolina based robotic vehicle racing team sponsored by NC State University and North Carolina businesses to compete in the DARPA Grand Challenge events. Insight Racing (www.insightracing.org) participated in the previous two US Department of Defense Grand Challenge competitions which began nearly 4 years ago.
The previous 2 DARPA Grand Challenge races pitted unmanned autonomous robotic vehicles against each other and a grueling 130+ mile course across the Mohave Desert in Nevada. Once the vehicle leaves the starting line, there is no human driving control until it completes the race. The need for this technology is driven by a Congressional mandate to equip 1/3 of the US military vehicles with autonomous control by 2015.

According to Insight Racing Team Leader, Grayson Randall, "We are very excited about this new competition where robotic vehicles will drive in city conditions. This is an interesting problem to solve and we are looking forward to extending our current technology capabilities to address this."

The Insight Racing Team performed very well in past DARPA competitions. They were one of only 23 teams selected as finalists for the most recent race held in the Mojave Desert in October 2005. Insight Racing used a Chevrolet Suburban which they called the Desert Rat, in the most recent race. The Desert Rat was equipped with computer controls and sensors. It traveled over 26 miles of desert terrain unmanned and controlled only by the computers inside the vehicle which was 12th place in total distance traveled, beating many very competitive teams from around the country.

According to Walt Sliva, Business Manager, "The past success of Insight Racing was due to the strong partners who supported this effort. We are grateful for all the support we've received and we look forward to working with our new sponsors for the Urban Challenge. "

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For more information, contact:
Walt Sliva
Business Manager
(919) 468-8558
walt@insightracing.org