The DARPA Grand Challenge final event will be held Saturday, October 8, in the Mojave Desert near Primm, Nevada. The finalists will traverse a rugged desert course that features lakebeds, narrow desert roads, tight turns, tunnels, gateways and treacherous mountain passes. The actual course will not be revealed to teams until two hours before the event begins at approximately 6:30 a.m. (PDT). The team whose vehicle traverses the entire course the fastest in under ten hours will win $2 million.

The race was held for the first time in March 2004 and none of the contestants traveled farther than 7.4 miles. The Golem Group team did well: 5.2 miles, and the best result on a basis of "miles traveled per dollar spent."

Videos from the National Qualification Event are available here

For more info on Golem 1 and Golem 2 visit the Golem Group/UCLA website.

For Daily updates from DARPA, visit the Grand Challenge web site.