Stanley

What Stanley was

Stanley was a robotic vehicle designed by a Stanford University team and based on a modified Volkswagen Touareg ^[2]. It was entered in DARPA's Grand Challenge, a desert race for vehicles that had to drive without a person at the wheel ^[1][2]. Stanford's entry carried a telling detail on its rear fender: a sticker that read "Drivers Not Required" ^[3].

The course and the rules

The 2005 Grand Challenge course was a 132-mile loop that began and ended in Primm, Nevada ^[3]. DARPA describes it as 132 miles over desert terrain ^[1]. The vehicles drove without human intervention ^[2]. To make that possible in a controlled way, each vehicle carried a wireless kill switch, so a chase vehicle could stop it in an emergency ^[2]. That detail captures the central tension of the event: the machines were meant to act on their own, but people still needed a way to intervene.

The race

Stanford Racing Team was one of the entries. DARPA says five teams completed the 132-mile course ^[1]. Stanley averaged more than 17 miles an hour, according to The New York Times ^[2]. The team behind Stanley included representatives of Volkswagen, Intel and other companies ^[2]. That mix is part of the story: a university group worked with a carmaker, a chipmaker and others to turn a Touareg into an autonomous racer.

The result

DARPA says the Stanford Racing Team won the 2 million dollar prize on 8 October 2005, with a winning time of 6 hours, 53 minutes ^[1]. Stanford Magazine reports that the winner was declared nearly 24 hours later and gives the same time, 6 hours and 53 minutes ^[3]. DARPA director Anthony Tether presented the 2 million dollar check to Sebastian Thrun ^[3]. Thrun was director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and co-leader of the Stanford team ^[2]. The New York Times quoted him describing the victory as a significant leap forward in artificial intelligence ^[2].

What the win meant

A significant portion of the prize would be allocated for graduate fellowships in artificial intelligence at Stanford ^[3]. That decision connected the race result to teaching and research: the money was not only a trophy, but a way to support students in the field the vehicle was meant to demonstrate. The race also put a concrete image in front of the public. A car with no driver in the seat completed a long desert route, while a chase vehicle kept a wireless kill switch at hand ^[2]. Thrun's description of the result as a significant leap forward in artificial intelligence framed it as more than a race result ^[2].

Stanley's place

Stanley is remembered as the Stanford vehicle that won the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge ^[1]. Its combination of a modified Volkswagen Touareg, a university team and corporate partners showed how an autonomous vehicle could be assembled and tested in a demanding public event ^[2]. The sticker on the rear fender, "Drivers Not Required," summed up the claim the team was making: a vehicle could complete the course with no human intervention ^[2][3]. The prize and the fellowship plan gave the effort a second life at Stanford, supporting graduate study in artificial intelligence ^[3].