Autopilots

2016 • 75 minutes

About this movie

In 2005, fueled by a $2M prize held out by an arm of the Pentagon, inventor Paul Perrone and his small team of unlikely roboticists, set out on a once in a lifetime road trip across country. They brought with them their quirky robot car Tommy to compete head to head against well funded corporate and university giants in a historic race of robotic vehicles across the Mojave Desert. Truck-sized robots, automotive speeds, grueling terrain, and high stakes set the bar high during the worlds most exclusive and intellectually challenging robot competition known as the DARPA Grand Challenge, the tournament which inspired the race to create self-driving cars. Autopilots tells a story about extraordinary resolve when tragic circumstances arise. Because in a race with no one behind the wheel, anything can happen.