Select members of Ohio State’s electrical engineering department are heading to Los Angeles in preparation for an off-road vehicle competition with their truck, the Terramax.

The Terramax is a modified military vehicle which has been re-fitted with various sensors and computers in order to guide the vehicle from Los Angeles to Las Vegas without a driver or anyone guiding the vehicle. The competition is part of the Defense Advances Research Project Agency’s Grand Challenge for autonomous off-road vehicles. The vehicle that completes the course in the least amount of time will win $1 million.

“The race will begin somewhere in Barstow, about 60 miles outside of LA and will end just outside of Las Vegas. We are told that the total distance will be somewhere between 210 and 220 miles,” said Umit Ozguner, professor of electrical engineering.

Test runs conducted last week in Marysville didn’t prove to be advantageous to the team’s preparation because of Ohio’s midwest setting. The team has been having trouble trying to program the truck to handle the desert terrain it will experience in California and Nevada. Ozguner said that nearly half the teams that are competing in the race are from California, and they definitely have an advantage in preparing for the competition.

Terramax is a combined effort between the OSU College of Engineering and the company that built the truck, The Oshkosh Truck Corporation located in Oshkosh, WI.

Terramax is one of 25 teams enlisted to participate in the desert trek. Schools that will also have entries in the competition include the University of Louisiana, Virginia Tech, Carnegie Mellon and the University of Florida, among others.

“The type of truck being used is a Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement or MTVR. This is a very rugged vehicle meant for off-road travel,” said Jim Fravert, a project engineer for Oshkosh Trucks and Terramax team leader. “The truck is made for off-road convoy applications, but can get up to 65 mph on paved road.”

The truck is equipped with a 425-horsepower engine and weighs approximately 30,000 lbs.

The race will take place March 13, but the teams are gathering for final test runs in the Los Angeles area.

“Most of the members of our team will be there by this Sunday,” Ozguner said. “From OSU, there will be four or five students and four other research staff, including myself. There will also be some Oshkosh personnel and three students from the University of Parma in Italy that have collaborated on the project with us.”

The race is being conducted to accelerate the development of unmanned vehicle technologies which can be applied to military requirements, according to Jan Walker, spokeswoman for DARPA. The eventual hope is that a completely autonomous vehicle will be developed to carry supplies to the front lines without endangering any soldiers.

“It’s important to note that what we are dealing with is state-of-the-art technology. I doubt anyone could have done this a year ago,” Ozguner said.

Project costs were between $400,000 and $500,000, not including the expenses incurred by Oshkosh Trucks and the University of Parma, Ozguner said.

“All told, it’s quite possible that the project cost will be more than the $1 million reward for winning,” he said.