A team of students and faculty from Penn and Lehigh University will compete in California this weekend for the title of a national engineering vehicle contest as one of 11 finalists.
"Little Ben," an autonomous vehicle created by the team, will have to drive safely through a 60-mile course in less than six hours and negotiate traffic without human aid to win the 2007 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Union Challenge.
The three fastest finishers will receive cash prizes of $2 million, $1 million and $500,000.
"We are now in the company of some of the best roboticists in the world, and that is a great testament to the dedication, quality, and passion of Penn and Lehigh students," Engineering professor and team leader Dan Lee said in a press release.
The event will be broadcast live at grandchallenge.org this Saturday at 11 a.m.
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