After more than 130 miles across dry lake beds, along winding mountain paths and through the rocky wilderness, Stanley emerged from the Mojave Desert to cross the finish line. Beyond the sweetness of a first-place finish with its $2 million prize, there was the satisfaction in learning that only five competitors had completed the grueling race. Eighteen others had collapsed along the way or found themselves otherwise unable to stay on the course from start to finish.

The scene was DARP's Grand Challenge 2005 in October, an annual contest designed to spur the automation of one-third of US ground combat vehicles by 2015. Stanley is a brainy diesel Volkswagen Touareg R5, one of the robotic cars that may presage an evolutionary leap in transportation...