NGPS Novatel (MM)

NovAtel Inc. (NASDAQ:NGPS), a precise positioning technology company, is pleased to announce that the winning team completing the U.S. government's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Grand Challenge, an unmanned robotic vehicle race, used NovAtel GPS technology. The race, which covered a 132-mile course in the Mojave Desert, made a great leap forward for the development of autonomous ground vehicle technology. It proved that these vehicles can cover long distances over difficult terrain and within a specified timeframe - all key elements towards bringing this technology into viable applications. The DARPA Grand Challenge winner was Stanford University's "Stanley". This robotic vehicle completed the course in the shortest period of time, averaging speeds of 19.1 mph. Stanley completed the race using NovAtel's Propak(R)LBplus with Omnistar HP Service for precise positioning data. The ProPak-LBplus GPS receiver combines GPS positioning with integrated access to OmniSTAR L-band signals, which provide various types of correction data to deliver autonomous sub-meter to decimeter level accuracy worldwide. "Our NovAtel receiver provided us with the most consistent accuracy and fastest reacquisition time of the different GPS solutions we tried. This was essential for Stanley's smooth performance coming out of GPS blackouts caused by underpasses and tunnels along the Grand Challenge course," said Mike Montemerlo of the Stanford Racing team. According to Graham Purves, NovAtel's Vice President of Sales, "We congratulate the Stanford team on their success in the DARPA Grand Challenge. NovAtel's GPS technology with integrated Omnistar service, as featured in our ProPak-LB family of products, has been a winning combination for many of our customers in commercial and military unmanned system applications. With our latest generation of OEMV GPS receivers, we have continued to improve L-Band functionality by integrating it into our new ASIC design. As a result, system designers will see additional benefits including reduced hardware, size, cost and complexity." About Stanford Racing Team The Stanford Racing Team (www.stanfordracing.org) developed Stanley, an autonomous ground vehicle, to compete in the 2005 Grand Challenge sponsored by the U.S. government's Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA). Stanley made history October 8, 2005 by completing a difficult 132-mile desert terrain course in less than seven hours. The team drew upon Stanford's artificial intelligence expertise and groundbreaking software and techniques for environment perception and stable vehicle control. Behind the effort were more than 30 Stanford engineering faculty and students from computer science, mechanical engineering, aeronautics and astronautics, and management science and engineering departments. Rounding out the team were engineers from the Volkswagen Electronics Research Lab and members of early stage venture capital firm MDV-Mohr, Davidow Ventures. Other primary team supporters included Red Bull and Android. About NovAtel Inc. NovAtel designs, markets and sells high-precision GPS and other positioning components and sub-systems used in a wide variety of commercial applications principally in the aviation, geomatics (surveying and mapping), mining, precision agriculture, marine and defence industries. NovAtel's solutions combine hardware, such as receivers and antennas, with software to enable its customers to fully integrate the Company's high-precision GPS technology into their respective products and systems. NovAtel, an ISO 9001 certified company, is focused on supplying core high-precision positioning technology to OEMs and system integrators who build systems for various end market applications. For more information, visit www.novatel.com. Certain statements in this news release, including those about the Company's future plans and intentions, and future performance and market acceptance of its OEMV technology, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not based on historical facts but rather on management's current expectations regarding NovAtel's future growth, results of operations, performance, future capital and other expenditures, competitive advantages, business prospects and opportunities. Wherever possible, words such as "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "may", "could", "will", "potential", "intend", "estimate", "should", "plan", "predict", "forecast" or the negative or other variations of these words, or similar words or phrases, have been used to identify these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results discussed or implied in the forward-looking statements, including operating results of Point, impact and timing of large orders, US dollar to Canadian dollar exchange rate fluctuations, establishing and maintaining effective distribution channels, certification and market acceptance of NovAtel's new products, credit risks of customers and Point, pricing pressures in the market and other competitive factors, maintaining technological leadership, timing of revenue recognition in connection with certain contracts, actions by governmental authorities, and other factors described in our Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2004 and other SEC filings, many of which are beyond the control of NovAtel. These factors should be considered carefully and undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and NovAtel assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. NOVATEL INC. (Nasdaq:NGPS)