The Brilliance within DARPA

+ Kari Kohn

Self-driving cars are often associated with Google.  However, in a piece for the New Yorker, Burkhard Bilger recounts their history, and Google did not enter the scene in act one.  DARPA lead the way, and various academic institutions played supporting roles.

And though Congress had set a goal that a third of all ground combat vehicles be autonomous by 2015, little had come of the effort. Every so often, Thrun recalls, military contractors, funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, would roll out their latest prototype. “The demonstrations I saw mostly ended in crashes and breakdowns in the first half mile,” he told me. “DARPA was funding people who weren’t solving the problem. But they couldn’t tell if it was the technology or the people. So they did this crazy thing, which was really visionary.”They held a race.The first DARPA Grand Challenge took place in the Mojave Desert on March 13, 2004. It offered a million-dollar prize for what seemed like a simple task: build a car that can drive a hundred and forty-two miles without human intervention.The Grand Challenge proved to be one of the more humbling events in automotive history. Its sole consolation lay in shared misery.Three months later, the agency announced a second Grand Challenge for the following October, doubling the prize money to two million dollars. To win, the teams would have to address a daunting list of failures and shortcomings, from fried hard drives to faulty satellite equipment.

While it is interesting to learn the back stories of the brilliant technologists pushing autonomous vehicles to the next level, it would be worthwhile to pay tribute to and to learn from the brilliant person or people at DARPA who came up with the idea of holding a prize competition. Who were they?  And how did they come up with this idea?  Because, as Bilger writes:

In one year, they’d made more progress than DARPA’s contractors had in twenty.

That feat was truly brilliant, and DARPA recognized its brilliance by holding a second competition and raising the bar and the stakes.  Rules are the ways in which we organize human interactions, and unfortunately, those who innovate around rules often take a backseat to those who innovate around technologies.  They are equally important, and this is a great example of how the evolution of both technologies and rules is necessary to drive human progress.

Tile image by: Spaceape

Back to top
see comments ()

Related

Press
/ Apr 17,2024

Unveiling the Shadows: Exploring the Reality of

Commercial Sexual Exploitation Among LGBTQ+ Youth in Out-of-Home Care

8.png
Apr 17,2024

Bartosz Bończak to Serve on Advisory Council for

Upcoming CityWorks Exhibition at the New York Hall of Science

more on: development
7_1.jpeg
Apr 17,2024

Kevin Cromar Speaks on Environmental Health

Research as Inaugural Speaker for NIA/NIH Speaker Series

more on: environment
6_2.jpeg
5_1.jpeg
Apr 17,2024

John Maki Addresses the Process of Reform

4_1.jpeg
Apr 17,2024

Mindy Tarlow Contributes to Vital City’s

“The Research That Changed My Thinking”

more on: crime and justice
3_1.jpeg
Apr 17,2024

Meredith Dank Co-Authors Report on

Labor Trafficking in the United States

more on: trafficking
2.png
1.jpg
Apr 17,2024

Mindy Tarlow Joins NYU Marron Leading the

SCALE + Lab

more on: mobility
AdobeStock_543741074.jpeg
8.jpeg
Mar 07,2024

Stephen Abeyta Defends Dissertation on

Workplace Victimization

more on: employment
7.jpeg
Mar 07,2024

Alon Levy on the U.S. Refusing to Learn from

Experts, Other Countries, and Its Own History When Building Transit

more on: public transit
6_1.jpeg
Mar 07,2024

Solly Angel Discusses Densification in

Kissimmee, FL

more on: land use
5.png
4.jpeg
3.jpeg
Mar 07,2024

Human Exploitation and Resilience Program

Publishes Reports on Forced Labor Projects in Tanzania and Costa Rica

more on: forced labor
2_1.jpeg
Mar 07,2024

Health, Environment and Policy Program Helps

Guide Air Quality Management in Ecuador

more on: air quality
1.jpeg
DALL%C2%B7E_2024-04-14_13.23.31_-_Create_a_sophisticated%2C_text-free_background_image_suitable_for_a_global_conversation_event_titled_Artha_Global_Conversation_._The_design_should_feat_.jpg
AdobeStock_543741074.jpeg
AdobeStock_543741074.jpeg
AdobeStock_3702436.jpeg
Jan 31,2024

Events: NYC “Citywide Agency Response to Human

Trafficking”

more on: trafficking
7_1.jpg
Jan 31,2024

Justine Olderman Joins the NYU Marron Institute

6.jpeg
Jan 31,2024

Alain Bertaud Bestowed with Honorary Doctorate

from CEPT University

5.jpeg
Jan 31,2024

Clayton Gillette Offers Lessons for Remote Work

from the Garment District

4.png
Jan 31,2024

Jodie Adams Kirshner Discusses Why Students

Are Skipping College

by Jodie Adams Kirshner
more on: education
3.png
Paper
/ Jan 31,2024

Human Trafficking Risk Factors, Health Impacts

, and Opportunities for Intervention in Uganda: A Qualitative Analysis 

by Meredith Dank
more on: trafficking
3.png
Jan 31,2024

Meredith Dank Publishes on Human Trafficking

in Uganda

by Meredith Dank
more on: trafficking
2.jpeg
Jan 31,2024

The Success of Urban Expansion Planning

in Mekele, Ethiopia Serves as Blueprint for African Cities

more on: urban planning
1_1.png
1_1.png
Jan 31,2024

Civic Analytics Team Authors Article

in Inaugural Nature Cities Issue

by Constantine Kontokosta, Bartosz Bończak
more on: land use, public health
Screen_Shot_2024-01-29_at_7.40.22_PM_.png
Screen_Shot_2024-01-29_at_7.18.16_PM_.png
Mekele.jpg
city_at_night.jpg
Annual_Newsletter_20221.png
Dec 22,2023

The NYU Marron Institute

Annual Director’s Update 2023

AdobeStock_611353166.jpeg
7.jpg
Dec 13,2023

Jodie Adams Kirshner Co-Writes Bankruptcy Chapter

AdobeStock_651764512.jpeg
6.jpg
Dec 09,2023

Lauren Moton Defends Dissertation on

Human Trafficking Intervention Courts and Receives Student Paper Award

more on: trafficking
6.png
4.jpg
Dec 09,2023

Solly Angel Speaks on Urban Controversies

at the 7th International Congress of Architecture

more on: growth, urban planning
3_1.jpg
Dec 09,2023

Angela Hawken Speaks on Using Data for Better

Understanding School Communities

more on: education
2.jpg
AdobeStock_611353166.jpeg
1.png
Dec 09,2023

Civic Analytics

Releases Updated Research for Urban Residents and Managers

more on: environment
Screen_Shot_2023-12-05_at_12.29.25_PM_.png
AdobeStock_643288999.jpeg
AdobeStock_104304458_1.jpeg
transit_1.jpg
city.jpg
misc11.8.jpeg
Nov 08,2023

American Meteorological Society 23rd Conference

on Artificial Intelligence for Environmental Science

more on: emissions
city.jpg
gladson.jpeg
Nov 08,2023

Laura Gladson Defends Dissertation

"Advancing Health Equity Using Satellite and Model Air Quality Data"

more on: air quality, environment
familyreunification.jpg
Nov 08,2023

Isabel Coronado Discusses Strategies to Support

Justice-Involved Family Reunification

more on: criminal justice
finematter_1.png
Nov 08,2023

Kevin Cromar Cautions

That Proposed Fine Particulate Matter Standards Are Inadequate

more on: air quality
civicanalytics.png
AfricaHouse.jpg
Nov 08,2023

Urban Expansion Program Hosts Malawian Dignitaries

for Accommodating Urban Growth Workshop at NYU Africa House

more on: land use, urban planning
IMG_2152.jpg
uganda.png
uganda.png
studentresearchers.jpeg