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No one from the government competed in the Darpa Grand Challenge. It was all private companies or universities. I was there, DARPA sponsored it and oversaw i
by nosequel 15y ago
No one from the government competed in the Darpa Grand Challenge. It was all private companies or universities. I was there, DARPA sponsored it and oversaw it, that's all. Check the wiki link below and tell me which team listed was from the DoD?
They wanted self-driving cars for military transport into dangerous locations. The first DGC there were only a few competitors and none of us did very well. In 2005 there were quite a few (listed here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA_Grand_Challenge_(2005) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA_Grand_Challenge_(2005)) with lots of teams making it through to the desert final stage.
I was part of the military-industrial complex, and yes there is a lot of wasteful B.S. only there to make more things to make more money, but there is stuff there that is not being done at all (or at least not well) outside of the government. Those things are the things that are labelled Secret or Top Secret in most cases. Like all governments, if the US government has an advantage in any little way, it likes to keep it that way.
- marshallp 15y agoWouldn't you consider the mitre entry basically a government entry (it's a non-profit funded by the government).
- nosequel 15y agoNo, because they are all civilians who don't even carry GS rankings. Mitre is just a government contractor like everyone else in that space, but they are different because they are a not-for-profit corporation. They serve contracts for the government, but so do people like Lockheed and Northrop. Like those other two, the government couldn't just shut down Mitre.