Live Reports from the 2005 Darpa Grand Challenge

10-08-05 12:33pm PDT

Stanley and Highlander are still virtually tied with only the famed Beerbottle Pass to go, keeping tensions high in the spectator tent. Meanwhile, a couple of other bots have joined the drop-out list. Virginia Tech's second entry, Cliff, and the Desert Buckeyes' Ion bit the dust almost simultaneously, bringing the total casualty count to 11.

-Elizabeth

10-08-05 11:51am PDT

Virginia Tech's Rocky is the course's latest casualty. Three hours and forty-five minutes in, the vehicle's control system stopped for unknown
reasons and was not able to restart. It had 51 miles under its belt before succumbing, though-not too shabby. VT sibling â€bot Cliff is still in the running, currently coming up on mile 55. Just another demonstration of why having two vehicles in this race is an excellent insurance policy.

-Elizabeth

10-08-05 11:38am PDT

Now that all the vehicles have left the starting line, the atmosphere in the Buffalo Bill's parking lot is a little more subdued-although that doesn't mean the action on the course is slowing up. The top three racers, Red Team, Red Team Too, and Stanford, are still neck-and-neck, exchanging the leader role every few minutes.

To keep up with the latest developments, the crowd is migrating away from the bleachers and toward a nearby tent, where Darpa's 3-D mapping software tracks the locations of the vehicles in real time. A giant LCD screen represents each vehicle as a blinking, moving numeral against the backdrop of the course, and the line to catch a glimpse of the display stretches out the door.

This may be a "desert course" in Darpa PR-speak, but the landscape is nothing like the Sahara-unbroken stretches of white sand for miles on end. Yucca, grass clumps, and low, scrubby bushes sprout every few feet like unruly tufts of hair, making the course a monster for even the ruggedest SUV. Of course, some teams relish the challenge as an opportunity to strut their engineering stuff. "The more difficult the course is," a Team TerraMax member told me, "the better it is for us."

-Elizabeth

10-08-05 11:18 am PDT

Stanford's Stanley has caught up to Red Team Too's H1ghlander and is attempting to pass and take the lead in the race. Both vehicles have been on the road for about 5 hours and are 97 miles into the course.

- Bjorn