This is Almost Scary

On October 8, 2005, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) will conduct the second Grand Challenge for autonomous robotic ground vehicles. Approximately 20 robots will navigate a course of more than 140 miles over rugged desert terrain in the southwest United States. The team whose vehicle completes the course the fastest—in less than 10 hours—will receive a check for $2 million.

Check out Dora which is Team Bonzai's entry into such an event. This is all apparently part of the DOD's hopes to have unmanned vehicles (1/3) of ground vehicles in combat by 2015. Am I over-reacting or is this the beginning of the Matrix in real life? Vehicles that can kill people designed by us to operate without us... I'm not sure how good of an idea this is, but seeing this thing in action is great. Check out the video of this thing maneuvering around obstacles with the help of only a few macs, some lasers to sense distance and a few other engineering marvels. No drive, no remote control - Beyond automatic. Fully autonomous.