Friday, October 7th - The day before the race..

Friday, October 7th: people arrive from all over the country to support Stanley. Despite doing about 0.00000000001% of the work, I still got a rather pimp racing tee.

Saturday, October 8th - Race Day

Saturday, October 8th, 5:30am - "Robots, start your engines." Stanley prepares to head for the gate.

We all head to the stands to wait for the vehicles to launch. Sebastian and Red take seats close to each other.

Stanley peers into the desert abyss and wonders what the day will bring.

Dawn in the desert right before the race begins. The launch order is CMU's Highlander, Stanford's Stanley, and CMU's Sandstorm.

Go Stanley..the crowd watches as Stanley heads into the desert on his own..

Red awaits the launch of his vehicles..

Sandstorm leaves the gate..

Lot's of Silicon Valley technocrats were hanging around. Here Larry wishes Sebastian and the team well. There was also a Woz sighting.

After all the vehicles launched, we spent several hours watching from the race tent. Teams members were not allowed on the course and had to follow progress on closed circuit video monitors.

Mike and Sebastian shake hands as Stanley overtakes Red Team's Highligher in the mud flats. The vehicle entered the flats around high noon. With few shadows, the vision sensors were able to increase driving confidence and speed. It also appeared that Highlander suffered an engine problem severely limiting its speed.

Mike cheers as Stanley completes "Beer Bottle Pass" - the last and hardest part of the course. Only a couple easy miles back to the finish line..

Give me a "S"..Give me a "T"..Give me a......Cedric gets a "L" while we all rush out to the stands to wait for Stanley to cross the finish line.

Stanley crosses the finish line and becomes the first vehicle in history to drive 132 miles autonomously through the desert. This truly is a historic day.

Dr. Sebastian Thrun, overall team lead, gets doused by the Red Bull can..

A soaking wet Sebastian gets a hug..

Mike and Sebastian high five while being carried by the crowd..

Sebastian gets accosted by the media..

The techincal head of the Stanford team, "Dr. Mikey Merlot" gets ready to paint lines on the freeway...:) Seriously though, Mike Montemerlo is one of the best roboticists in the world - and one of the nicest guys around. Mike is a RoboGrad from CMU and one of Red's former students.

Of course there was going to be a party win or loose...VW threw the team a great party at Aquaknox, a posh restaurant/bar at the Venician hotel..Everyone was thrilled that we had finished the race - but unfortunately, we wouldn't know until Sunday who the official winner would be.

Despite our severe sleep deprivation, it was far too early to call it a night. So after the party, I went with Pascal, Vandi, and Kenny to the top of the Stratosphere (the big Space Needle like tower in Las Vegas)..The views were awesome..

Sunday, October 9th - The winner is announced...

Sunday: We all head back to the course to wait for the official race results. 5 vehicles finished the race - but because they all started (and were paused) as various times, the race logs required analysis to determine which team had the fastest time. DARPA Director Tony Tether prepares to announce the winner.

Red Team and Stanford Racing eagerly await the official result..

And the winner is.....Stanley!!

Each of the finishing teams got a metal..

The Stanford team rushes the stage to collect the big check..

Behind the big check..

Lars, the ultra-cool, master Touareg mechanic from VW Germany, pops the champaign. If you ever need your Touareg's internal firmware recompiled, Lars is your man.

Gabe and David hold the 'big' check. $2,000,000 made out to Stanley..

After collecting the check, it was photo-op time. Here is Vaughan and Margo.

David and Mark and a champaign covered Stanley..

The testing team..Mark, Phil, John, and Celia..

Uh oh..there's a dust storm coming. Good thing the event's over. Let's get out of here.