Team Tartan takes DARPA Urban Challenge win

Technology always starts with the most expensive high-end equipment first, she said, but that the time to trickle down was “getting quicker.”

Like all three of the technology companies on stage as sponsors, all had a long-standing research relationship with Carnegie Mellon but all were clearly dipping deeply into the corporate funds to help finance the team they saw as the logical winner.

As with the Team's ability to have confidence in its sensors and vision enough to run at a speed well beyond other autonomous vehciles, Professor Whittaker seemed incredibly confident in the outcome of the event. Before he passed the stage to his sponsors, he confidently invited the gathered media throng back to the same tent 24 hours hence to “enjoy the outcome.”

In robotic racing, Whittaker’s Tartan Racing is the equivalent of Formula One’s Ferrari – a team with resources equal to any in all of the fields that count - sponsorship development, technology development, logistical management under extreme duress, communication with all stakeholders, ad infinitum.

Stanford with its own charismatic leader in Dr Sebastian Thrun is not far behind, though it clearly did not have the money or resources to apply to the task.

Though its corporate sponsor list was also impressive, it never looked to be running at Tartan's speeds. Stanford looked to be the most capable of the team's shooting for podiums as Tartan was in a different race to the rest of the teams from this humble scribe’s perspective.

Some other team leaders estimated Tartan’s full-time work force to be “more than 100” compared to the “less than 20” of all the other teams (not counting Stanford). When pressed for the size of his budget, Whittaker quickly deflected the question with a gruff laugh – “we’re priceless, that’s what we are – PRICELESS.”

The parallels with automotive racing grew much stronger in this third DARPA event. Like most free market systems, there are a few haves and many have-nots and the DARPA Urban Challenge shaped up similarly.

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