Specialty truck and truck body manufacturer Oshkosh Truck Corp. has teamed with aviation electronics company Rockwell Collins to develop a self-navigating robotic TerraMax truck to compete in a 175-mile off-road course in the Mojave Desert next fall.

The competition, sponsored by the Defense Dept.’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), will award $2 million to the team whose vehicle completes the route the fastest within a 10-hour time period. This is the second DARPA Grand Challenge; during the first contest, none of the entries were able to complete a 142-mile route through the Mojave desert.

The race is scheduled for October 8, 2005.