No Drivers, but a Lot of Drive

On Nov. 3, when robot vehicles raced through Darpatown, a simulated suburbia created in an abandoned Air Force Base in Victorville, Calif., each machine appeared to show its own distinct personality. Not surprisingly, perhaps, robot personality quirks can mirror the individual styles of their human designers. And in this third annual race, sponsored by the Pentagon and now called the Darpa Urban Challenge, the leading machines also reflected a very human rivalry between two leading computer science and engineering schools.