The U.S. military’slong , often wander roadto rove out sovereign vehicle has , to this point , mostly disappointed industrious applied scientist eager to see human drivers eliminated from combat scenario . Though the Pentagon ’s largest enquiry agency has spent the full part oftwo decadesfiddling with autonomous tech , now the Department of Defense is turn to a California - based inauguration company to fast track its use of self-reliant vehicles for “ high - hazard ” missions .
This week , autonomous trucking inauguration Kodiak Roboticsrevealedit pull ahead a two - class , $ 49.9 million military contract from the Department of Defense to help make and deploy succeeding autonomous background vehicles capable of carrying out reconnaissance and surveillance . In hypothesis , those vehicle should be capable of traversing complex terrains in divers conditions where GPS availableness might be limited . That ’s quite a tall project for a house who , before today , was best know for self - driving semishauling Ikea furniture .
If successful , Kodiak believe its novel autonomous reconnaissance vehicle could reduce risks to soldier who otherwise would put themselves in risk maneuver behind enemy line . The exact design and appearance of those vehicles , to this point , remain unclear . Outside of the sneakier enjoyment cases , Kodiak says its autonomous tech could serve as a “ technical grapevine ” to enable rapid deployment of sovereign tech within the military .
Photo:Kodiak Robotics(Getty Images)
“ I started Kodiak because I think autonomous applied science can salvage lives , and helping the U.S. Army evolve driverless fomite for the most thought-provoking operate environments fits perfectly with that goal , ” Kodiak Robotics founder and CEO Don Burnette enunciate in a program line .
Kodiak ultimatelybeat out33 other competitors as part of a competitor hosted by the DoD ’s Defense Innovation Unit on behalf of the Army ’s Robotic Combat Vehicle programme . Though driverless vehicles on commercial-grade roads are currently cleave in a safety and regulatory limbo preventing them from hitting public roads , the DoD tell the actual tech nominate its fashion through the sphere has nonetheless develop rapidly in recent year .
“ There has been a revolution in the techniques and capabilities of un - crewed ground vehicles occurring in the private sector over the past two 10 , ” Kevin O’Brien , the Defense Innovation Unit ’ Technical Director for Autonomy say in astatement . “ We ’re eager to lend these matured technologies back into the Department of Defense , where initial workplace was inspired by the DARPA Grand Challenges . ”
ByDARPA challenge , O’Brien ’s referring to a serial of tests conducted in the arenaceous outskirts of the Mojave Desert 18 years ago where 15 early “ self-reliant vehicles ” compete against each other to navigate through a 142 - mile course of study . All of them failed , many miserably . Still , that challenge , which pulled together some of the brightest mind in autonomy technology at the time , is often accredit with spearheading then - nascent self-governing vehicle technical school into a bud startup acculturation . In fact , some of the originative force behind many of those early sand - filled hunk of junk ended upbecoming leadersin their field of force .
award a major contract bridge to one of these burgeoning startups , in that sense , means the field has come full set . Kodiak and the DIU , concord toTechCrunch , are currently building test track that reflect the type of terrain these autonomous vehicles might see in combat scenarios . Kodiak is also reportedly build out a customs duty , human - driven ATV for the military intended for testing and data point collection .
The U.S. war machine ’s interest in autonomous technical school extends far beyond ground vehicles . Earlier this year , a DARPA - have UH-60A Black Hawk helicopter outfitted with an data-based Aircrew Labor In - Cockpit Automation System ( ALIAS ) was able-bodied to successfullycompletea 30 bit test flight without a pilot , a huge milepost in the aerial autonomy space . Meanwhile , in some simulated consequence , autonomous scrapper jet systemshave alreadyoutperformedhuman pilots barreling through dogfight .
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