DARPA's Autonomous Vehicle Challenge Too Popular?

Tim writes "Mobilerobotics.org has an editorial accompanying a copy of a letter to one of the teams entering the DARPA Grand Challenge 1 million dollar autonomous vehicle race, in which DARPA admits to underestimating the number of teams that can actually partipate in the actual race. They figure they've only got room for 20 teams, and more than 100 have applied. The writer of the editorial argues that if more than 20 teams can qualify safely and technically, DARPA should have to chose the 20 cheapest financed teams. What should DARPA do to sort out these problems?" CNET News has more on the high turn-out, while DARPA ponders its next step.

Comments

The simpliest answer is usually the best...

[ChrisTower]

A preliminary event with the best twenty moving on to the final race. This model works pretty well for most sports, I don't see why it wouldn't fit an autonomous robot race.