Wipe away those tears robot lovers! The DARPA Grand Challenge is back (pdf), and in case you've grown tired of dangerous mountain passes and arid deserts, this year's race is in da 'hood ... of sorts.

The DARPA Urban Challenge will feature autonomous ground vehicles executing simulated military supply missions safely and effectively in a mock urban area.
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To succeed, vehicles must autonomously obey traffic laws while merging into moving traffic, navigating traffic circles, negotiating busy intersections and avoiding obstacles.

Additional improvements include prizes to the top three winners, to the sum of $2 million, $500 thousand, and $250 thousand respectively, and two ways to enter the Challenge: 1) Teams may submit a proposal for up to $1 million USD in exchange for government use of their technology or 2) Old-school style qualifying events. The contest is slated for November of 2007.

Getting to and finishing at the National Qualifying Events (NQE) also has its perks - semi-finalists in the NQEs get $50,000 and finalists get $100,000. So, if you finish first place over-all, you're looking at a cool $2,150,000 USD, not to mention fame and glory.

DARPA will be holding a Participants Conference for those teams intending to compete. You'd best start talking to your friends now, as the conference is a mere 3 weeks away (May 20th). There will also be a live webcast of the event. More information on the Challenge is at DARPA's Grand Challenge website.