The first Grand Challenge: nobody finished

Fifteen driverless vehicles set out on a 240-kilometre desert route; the furthest managed just under twelve kilometres.

DARPA offered a million-dollar prize and awarded it to nobody. Team Red from Carnegie Mellon covered 11.78 km and stopped. The format worked precisely because it was public: everyone saw the failure, and within eighteen months the level jumped. It is a rare case of organisers deliberately setting the bar above existing capability.