SAN DIEGO — The Isuzu sport-utility vehicle from Austin hit a carport.

Other vehicles wrecked into other cars, ran stop signs or simply didn't work. Spectators even got to see the Porsche Cayenne from Atlanta slam into a concrete wall.

Apparently, building a robot car that can drive itself is harder than it seems.

Of the 35 entries into the Defense Department-sponsored DARPA Urban Challenge autonomous robot car contest, only 11 advanced to the finals, scheduled for today in Victorville, Calif.

The team from Austin didn't make the cut..

In the contest, vehicles equipped with computers, global positioning technology and laser sensor equipment have to navigate a 60-mile course, weave around other vehicles, park in designated spots and complete other tasks — without a driver or remote control. The winner gets $2 million.

The competition is supposed to show off the capabilities of self-driving, unmanned cars like KITT from the 1980s TV hit "Knight Rider," but early rounds sometimes seemed more like something out of the Stephen King horror flick "Christine."

Most vehicles accomplished at least some of the tasks. But computer malfunctions and wrecks punctuated the semifinals.

Austin's entry, led by University of Texas researchers and a group of local technology entrepreneurs, suffered from a computer "memory leak" that caused it to hit a carport.

"I wouldn't say we went further than we thought we would, but we're proud of what we accomplished," said Dave Tuttle, leader of the Austin Robot Technology team.

DARPA, the Defense Department's research agency, is sponsoring the contest as part of a Congressional mandate to make one-third of all combat ground vehicles unmanned by the year 2015.

bkeefe@coxnews.com