Team Gray Selected as a Semifinalist in the 2007 Urban Challenge

Declared a "Top 5" Team by DARPA Director

ANAHEIM, CA - Thursday, August 9, 2007 - The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) today released the names of 36 teams from around the country that were selected as semifinalists in the 2007 Urban Challenge, a race for autonomous vehicles to be held in November of this year. Among those selected was Team Gray, a Metairie, Louisiana team made up of employees of GrayMatter, Inc.

Team Gray is the racing venture of GrayMatter, Inc., makers of the AVS™ driving system. The team began competing in autonomous ground vehicle competitions in response to the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge. Their vehicle "KAT-5" finished fourth in a 132-mile race across the Nevada desert without any human interaction, becoming one of only five vehicles out of 195 entrants to finish the grueling course. Team Gray's new vehicle, "Plan B," is a showcase of the latest technologies developed by GrayMatter for fields ranging from military hardware to automotive testing equipment.

Building on the success of the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge, the Urban Challenge will take autonomous vehicle out of the desert and into the urban arena. Whereas the Grand Challenge pitted driver-less vehicles against the harsh terrain of the Nevada desert, the Urban Challenge presents a whole new set of hurdles. According to Dr. Tony Tether, Director of DARPA, "The vehicles must complete a simulated battlefield supply mission in an urban area. The vehicles must obey California traffic laws, merge into traffic, navigate traffic circles, negotiate busy intersections, and avoid moving obstacles." All of this must be completed without a human driver or remote operator.

Dr. Tether went on to discuss the scope of the thirty-six competitors that had been selected as semifinalists. Speaking of the five teams to complete the 2005 Grand Challenge, Dr. Tether stated that "only one of them was rated in the top five of these thirty-six [semifinalist]". He closed his presentation by revealing that team as Team Gray.

Team Gray is hoping that its simple yet robust approach that made the team so successful in the 2005 Grand Challenge will pay off again in November, but before that, the team must prove itself to in the National Qualifying Event (NQE) in late October. The NQE will be used to determine the twenty finalists that will participate in the Urban Challenge. In the time leading up to the NQE, Team Gray and University of Louisiana at Lafayette's Team Cajunbot, another semifinalist, are scheduled to hold several friendly "mini-challenges" to allow both Louisiana teams to evaluate solutions and share expertise.

The Urban Challenge will be held in Victorville, California at the site of the former George Air Force Base on November 3, 2007. The NQE will be held at the same location from October 26 to October 31.

To view the video of DARPA's announcement, please visit our videos page.

About GrayMatter, Inc.

GrayMatter, Inc. provides integrated software and hardware solutions that facilitate autonomous operation of motor vehicles. The GrayMatter AVS™ integrates with virtually any commercially available environmental sensors and GPS systems to allow the vehicle to navigate a selected route while dynamically avoiding obstacles and obeying traffic laws as would a human driver. GrayMatter was founded in 2005 to participate in the DARPA Grand Challenge, a 132 mile race across the desert in which it was the fourth-finishing team, and was semi-finalist in the 2007 Urban Challenge. For additional information, navigate to www.graymatterinc.com.