Reunited with the Vehicles

Oct. 24, 2007
Up at 5:30am, the team indulges in the hotel's continental breakfast that will energize them for the first day with the vehicles at George's Air Force Base. Not sure if they are still just blurry eyed, many team members notice other hotel guests dressed rather uniquely. We are ready to chalk it up to the California way of life, when someone finds out that there is a Lacoste photo shoot based out of the hotel. Apparently the deserts of Victorville have drawn more than just autonomous vehicles this week.

The atmosphere at George's Air Force Base is electric as teams check in for the competion that they have all been working towards for the last year and a half. We are one of the first teams on site to set up our pit area. There is much work to be done to unpack the supplies and vehicles. Our pit is located between the MIT and Autonomous Solutions teams. Over the course of three hours, the Victor Tango command center is raised and populated with our vehicles and equipment.

New vehicles trickle in as the day passes, each with a unique array of instruments decorating their bumpers and roof racks. See the video below for scenes from Day 1 of the Urban Challenge grounds. Many teams experienced trouble getting their vehicles and support trailers settled in the pit areas. One team had a brake line rupture on their trailer trying to clear a curb. Carnegie Mellon, or "Tartan Racing", drew a crowd when it took over an hour to unload a single vehicle from their trailer.

No testing can be done today, just GPS alignment and hardware checks. The team finds everything has arrived in working order and expects a successful National Qualifying Event (NQE) run this coming weekend.