https://medium.com/self-driven/a-decade-after-darpa-our-view-on-the-state-of-the-art-in-self-driving-cars-3e8698e6afe8

A decade ago in the California high desert, 11 finalists competed in an unprecedented 60-mile race. Robot cars needed to safely and swiftly complete the mission without any human intervention — while also interacting with human-driven vehicles — in under six hours.

It was the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge, an autonomous vehicle competition that unofficially kicked off today’s self-driving technology initiatives. The vehicles were considered incredible at the time, and looking back, this marked the beginning of a long journey.