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Team ENSCO Passes First Evaluation for 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge

Springfield, Va., April 22, 2005 — From a pool of 195 applicants, Team ENSCO is one of 118 teams selected from the first stage evaluation, which included a video submitted by each team showing the capabilities of their vehicles.

As with the inaugural event held in March 2004, autonomous vehicles will attempt to navigate a challenging course of varying terrain through the desert. The team that first completes the Grand Challenge 2005 route within a specified time will receive a cash prize of $2 million, an increase from the $1 million prize offered at the 2004 event.

In the first DARPA Grand Challenge, held on a desert route from California to Nevada, Team ENSCO was one of only 15 teams from a field of 106 applicants that progressed to the final event. DARPA anticipates even greater participation in Grand Challenge 2005.

As with the first Challenge, all teams including Team ENSCO will go through several DARPA specified qualifications to be eligible to compete in the challenge. This year’s qualifications include multiple evaluation and qualification events. From a pool of 195 applicants, Team ENSCO is one of 137 teams selected from the first stage evaluation, which included a video submitted by each team showing the capabilities of their vehicles. In May, DARPA Officials will visit the team’s testing sites to evaluate vehicle’s navigation skills and obstacle avoidance. Additionally, teams will be required to submit a technical paper during the summer. Only 40 teams will be allowed into the Qualification Event in September and of those, only 20 teams will actually qualify for the race.

Team ENSCO

Team ENSCO is a volunteer group of some of ENSCO’s brightest researchers and engineers They are joined by students from Thomas Jefferson High School of Science and Technology. One team members is from Georgetown University Physics Laboratory four others have a personal interest in working on the project.

Companies that have donated equipment and software to the project include National Instruments, MathWorks, Expert Choice, Inc., SICK, Vicor, Whelen Engineering and Optima Batteries.