Get ready for another round of those kooky self-driving vehicles, where this time the DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) Grand Challenge 3 will require those robots to do a little more than just a jaunt through the desert. In this next challenge, the contestants will be required to run a 60-mile simulated urban course in less than six hours, where they'll need to do real-world things such as merge with moving traffic, go through crowded intersections and even pull into and out of parking spaces.
DARPA again offers a $2 million prize to the winner of this more-complicated challenge, and this time there's a second prize of $500,000 and a third prize of $250,000. DARPA will also assist teams in getting funding for their vehicles. Getting money is something DARPA is pretty good at, being a zillion-dollar-sucking government agency and all. Better get those ideas ready, though—the first proposals are due June 23.
DARPA announces Urban Challenge [DARPA, via Defense Tech]