IRV DRIVES HOME A NEARLY FLAWLESS DARPA SITE VISIT

INDIANAPOLIS ? IndyRobotics, LLC, parent company of the Indy Robot Racing Team, announced today the results from the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) site visit. IRV, Indiana?s Robotic Vehicle, successfully completed five unmanned demonstration course runs, including four obstacle avoidance tests.

"We didn?t just complete the runs successfully, we nailed today?s preliminary trials and proved to the DARPA officials that the Indy Robot Racing team is up for the Grand Challenge," stated Scott Jones, co-team leader.

The DARPA officials are currently in the process of evaluating 118 teams during their on-site visits. On June 1, 2005, DARPA personnel will announce the 40 teams that will advance to the Grand Challenge National Qualification Event from September 27 to October 5, 2005. Initially 195 teams filed applications to compete in the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge.

The Indy Robot Racing Team, headquartered in Carmel, Ind., is comprised of engineers, software developers and marketing professionals from across the state. The team?s mission is to build the world?s first fully autonomous vehicle and to create a new high-tech enterprise in Indiana.